Red Ochre Falls

by Kristen Gibson

  “Oh, is that so?” He raised an eyebrow at me. I tried to be calm, but shifted in my seat instead. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I was just having some fun,” he said.

  What was I supposed to say now? Seriously?! Whatever I hoped we might talk about, or do, appears to just be playful banter. The conversation circled back to my crappy car, and my desperate need for working wheels.

  “While it may not be your favorite car, it does run, although not right now.”

  I felt a little embarrassed. Oh well, what can you do?

  “I can recommend a good mechanic. You should have the engine checked. Hondas are generally reliable, but I think this old model had transmission or ignition problems, and there could be a fix.”

  “Great,” I said half-heartedly when I really just wanted to cry. We didn’t have money to fix problems, especially not big ones, like a transmission. And how would I pay to get that hunk of junk hauled away? He picked up on my anxiety—it was kind of hard to miss.

  “Don’t worry about the cost of the tow, or the work. This particular mechanic owes me a favor.”

  “Is there anything I need to know? Like, is this some kind of a Godfather thing?”

  “No, it’s not some Godfather thing.” He leaned closer and used his husky voice. “But you will owe me a favor.”

  Yikes! It was a Godfather thing. I wasn’t sure this was a good idea. I had a really hard time knowing whether to run, or stay and pull him closer. The look in his eyes warned me I was playing with fire—the dangerous, seductive kind—and already in way over my head.

  “Okay,” my voice crackled. I thought it over, and then in my best South Jersey accent said, “You want I should whack somebody for you?”

  He laughed at my attempt at humor. “Unh-unh. Nope.” Garrett waggled his finger at me. “The favor comes later, and it’ll be a something you can’t refuse.” He finished the last part in his best Brando Godfather voice.

  My phone buzzed. I figured it was mom, probably worried about what we might be doing for so long. I’d kept her in the loop up until we stopped for the car, but got busy wondering what a brave woman would do with this hunk of a man sitting beside her. I’m usually much stronger, and more in control when it comes to feelings. Okay, so I cried to chick-flicks, and anything involving animals and kids, but I sort of felt like a tough girl. Not totally hardened, but picky when it came to my time and my heart. Maybe it was just the way I’d insulated myself over the years—hurt has a funny way of working on people like me. Instead of being logical when it came to our situation, and remaining friends in light of the fact he was one of our employer landlords, I struggled against the desire for more. The way he acted made me think he might have felt a similar conflict.

  When I checked the display, it was Chloe’s mom. Did they not talk? I thought my previous message to Chloe was clear: Call Your Mom!

  “Excuse me, it’s my friend’s mom and I really should take this call,” I told Garrett apologetically.

  I started the call upbeat, and slightly perturbed, but felt heavy with guilt when Mrs. Ellis mom broke down. “She’s gone. Chloe’s dead.”

  At first, I couldn’t believe it—we’d talked just a few days ago, and were supposed to meet up to discuss her case. Mrs. Ellis said she was dead. Suicide, the coroner had ruled.

  There was no way, I thought. Chloe told me once she’d dreamt her whole life of becoming a judge. Chloe had so much going for her as an up-and-comer in the legal world—working on a big gambling case, being heard by the State Supreme Court. The case would have bolstered her career and put her on a fast track to the bench. Why would she kill herself before it was even heard? No way she’d miss the opportunity of a lifetime. She didn’t commit suicide. Chloe’s mom didn’t think her daughter had either.

  “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Ellis, so sorry to hear about Chloe. What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know, Mattie. I want to get a second opinion, but don’t know if I should.”

  “Maybe I can help.”

  “Doing what, dear?”

  Garrett sat patiently, absorbing at least the half of the conversation.

  “Well, mom and I work at a funeral home now,” I admitted, and blushed even though she couldn’t see it through the phone. Then my eyes went to Garrett and back to the dash.

  “I know a guy in the business who may be able to help.” I waited for her response.

  “Do you think he’d look into it?”

  “I trust him to find out what really happened to Chloe.” At least I hoped so. I looked at Garrett and he politely signaled me to hand over the phone, so I did. I blew out a breath and waited for them to discuss the next steps.

  “It would be best. If you released the body to our funeral home, so I could take a closer look. We don’t want whoever may be behind this to know we’re investigating.”

  This scared me. It all seemed too real, and wrong. I had no idea what really happened. But, we intended to find out.

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help you, Mrs. Ellis. I’m very sorry for your loss,” Garrett told her sincerely. He handed me the phone and waited for me to finish.

  “Thanks Mattie, but please be careful. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you or that nice young man because you helped me.”

  “Mrs. E., I promise we’ll do whatever we can to figure out what happened to Chloe. Once we know more, we’ll call you. Just hang in there.” I disconnected and quiet shock took over for a few moments. My breakdown would have to wait. Could Chloe have killed herself? If she didn’t, then she was murdered. That made everything much worse. Who would kill her and why? Could it have been a colleague, or even Tab? My head spun.

  Garrett knew about Chloe and Tab’s rocky relationship. I’d told him about it after our run-in with Tab the other night. It made sense to fill him in on the rest. I told him about Chloe’s call to me for help on a case; her mom’s call for help getting in touch with Chloe; and how odd it all seemed for them to contact me considering we hadn’t kept in touch much after I left school.

  He listened intently then drove back to the funeral home. We’d both been lost in our own thoughts on the ride home until he pulled in a parking spot near the garage doors.

  “I’ve got a friend who might be able to help. Calvin’s a detective, and we go way back, so I trust him. He may be able to help us, but we won’t know if it’s worth pursuing until I take a look at Chloe.” He sighed. “Mattie, I’ve seen cases like this where family, or friends, can’t come to terms with a loved one’s suicide. It can be a real mess of grief and guilt. I just want you to be prepared in case she did take her own life, and to know you’re not responsible.”

  Garrett unbuckled, and signaled for my phone, which I still held in my hands. I handed it to him and he typed in his contact information. “As for your car, someone will pick it up tonight. Text me at this number when you’re up and running tomorrow. I’ll text you back and let you know if I can drive you over to the garage, or not. Ask to see this guy.” He handed me a business card and continued. “If I can’t make it, I’ll leave some keys in my top desk drawer so you can drive over and check on your car. Leave my car there, they’ll get it back to me later.”

  “Thank you.” He was going out of his way to help with everything. Filled with so many emotions, I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Anytime. I know living here has to be an adjustment for you and your mom. These other problems are only making life more complicated. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Before I could say anything more, or hug him, his phone rang. It was my mom, and it was quick. It took a moment for me to register what they discussed.

  “We’ve got a body. Sorry, a customer. We’d better get inside.”

  The wind gust had a cold edge to it when we hopped out of the truck. He led me inside, closed the door and watched as I ran my fingers through my hair to calm it back into place. He shivered, probably from the wind. He stepped close enough I could feel hi
s body heat. Maybe not the wind.

  “Mattie?” Garrett looked at me so intently I felt a shock wave. “Can I ask you something personal?” I kept quiet and said yes with my eyes.

  Just as he opened his mouth to ask, Sledge and Manny burst through the back door.

  “Got another dusty one,” Manny called out casually as if he’d said, ‘Honey, I’m home’ while he and Sledge rolled the latest body, um, customer inside. I didn’t run this time. But, I did avoid looking directly at the black bag for the first few moments.

  “Easy guys.” Garrett pushed open the door to the holding room while maintaining my gaze. “If they’re right, and it’s the same stuff found on the last one, we’ll be talking to Cal about more than just Chloe tomorrow.”

  Sledge and Manny went inside and Garrett’s voice softened. “We’ll pick our conversation up where we left off soon. Okay?” He smiled warmly. I smiled back and let him get to work.

  When I got upstairs and locked the door, mom greeted me with chocolate chip cookies and milk. The warm vanilla and gooey chocolate welcomed me to sit and unload my worries. I let mom have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, most of it. I left out the part where I felt mixed emotions about Garrett, and volunteered us both to look into a possible murder. No need to worry her unless something more happened with either situation, right? Maybe nothing would.

  Mom expressed her sympathy over Chloe’s death then reassured me we’d be fine, that the car and our finances would hold up. Despite the fact I didn’t get the job I’d interviewed for recently. The office left a voice message and said they’d keep my resume on file a while longer—I wasn’t going to hold my breath. Picking up some kind of work remained a priority. Garrett offered to take care of the car repairs, and to help look into Chloe’s death. I didn’t want to be in his debt any more than I already was.

  “You two girls all caught up?” Aunt Eileen surprised us in the kitchen. My aunt’s autumn print dress and cropped red hair reminded me of my third grade English teacher. The look suited her.

  “Yes, thanks. Everything okay with the arrangements?” Mom looked at me and brushed a bit of hair behind my ear the way she had since I was a kid. Something was up. She looked back at my aunt.

  “I’m taking your mom on a little trip,” Eileen said.

  “Is everything okay, mom?” An impromptu trip worried me.

  “I’m fine, honey. But grandpa’s hit a rough patch and we thought a visit might cheer him up.” Mom sounded concerned about grandpa. “Eileen will do most of the driving, I’ll annoy her with advice and help out if needed. We’d be gone a few days. I hate to burden you with extra work, but I need you to answer the phones and cover any office requests while we’re gone. I wouldn’t ask unless it was important.” She looked worried, and it was the last thing she needed to feel right now.

  “It’s no problem. Just get me up to speed and I’ll handle it. Aunt Eileen, please make sure she gets some rest, too.” Mom and my aunt hugged me at the same time.

  We visited a while longer. They went to the bedroom to pack mom’s things while I polished off another cookie and packed the rest in two containers, one for me, one for their trip. I took one final swig of milk then washed the glass and put it on the drying rack. As mom and Aunt Eileen got ready for bed, I grabbed a pillow and blanket from the bedroom closet and put them on the couch in the living room. I rinsed up, said goodnight, and crashed.

  CHAPTER 7

  I woke up to mom and Aunt Eileen singing in the kitchen. They used to break out singing a lot when they cooked with grandma. I’d almost forgotten how much I missed hearing them harmonize. We ate oatmeal and chatted some more about the trip. After breakfast, I walked a couple bags downstairs and loaded them into Aunt Eileen’s burgundy sedan. We exchanged hugs and they left.

  I sprung up the walk and into the back office. Fran, an assistant funeral director in training, told me Garrett was at a graveside service and would be back this afternoon. Ryder was meeting a family, and Hank had already left to begin his holiday weekend. She had no idea where Stanley was at the moment, although I thought I heard her murmur something about a coffin.

  I snagged the keys and headed upstairs. My to do list was pretty long, so I texted Garrett to say I picked up his keys and planned to stop by the garage later. My instincts told me Garrett would find something, so I got started on Chloe’s case early. I called her mom who was understandably distraught, but helpful. She gave me a contact number for Chloe’s office, and her address.

  A clerk at the office I called didn’t help much, but only because he didn’t know me, and claimed he couldn’t give out confidential information. The clerk did, however, slip and tell me the name of a lawyer working the case with Chloe, Ted Oxley.

  Mr. Oxley, a practicing attorney, headed the college Law Club, although not a professor. I knew him from a mock trial Chloe and I participated in a few years back. His business was listed online. I figured there was no sense in letting the Maserati sit around all day, so I headed over there to ask Ted about the case.

  As soon as I parked, I texted Jos and told her we needed to meet ASAP. A guy got out of a car near me and went inside the office building. I didn’t recognize him, but he looked like he belonged there. Suit and briefcase.

  The elevator dinged when it reached the third floor, my stop. The doors opened, I stepped off and looked at the black lettering on the marquee to see where Ted Oxley’s office, suite 307, was located. His assistant notified me he was in conference with a client, offered me a beverage and a magazine while I waited.

  I glanced over the headlines, but decided to check messages and play with my phone instead. The messages indicated mom and Aunt Eileen were making good progress; Jos would be spending the weekend with her family; and Garrett wanted to catch up before he left for the holiday. While everyone else had Labor Day plans, mine looked to be pretty quiet. Maybe I’d unpack, curl up with a book, or watch chick-flicks and eat popcorn until Tuesday. Three days is enough for a person to binge on whatever they wanted. I’d have to decide later because Mr. Oxley’s client left, so it was my turn to see him.

  “Good to see you.” Mr. Oxley shook my hand and walked me into his office. He signaled for me to take a seat then walked around to his desk and sat in an expensive looking leather office chair.

  “Sorry to hear about Chloe.”

  “Me too. I wondered if you knew anything about her recent cases.”

  “Well, we did work together on a couple cases, but I hadn’t talked to her much lately. From what I understand, she’d been given some clerk work on a high profile case to stop a casino build. Normally, you can’t stop a build like this once it starts, unless you’ve got a pretty strong case.”

  Oxley lifted his arms off the chair. They came to rest on the desk and he pulled his hands up until only the fingertips touched. From the way it looked, he was either going to pray, or tell me more bad news. “Chloe had come to me for help, but I’m afraid I couldn’t offer her much. The next thing I heard, she…she’d killed herself. Maybe she couldn’t handle the pressure. Mattie, you know what it’s like.” He threw that last part in unexpectedly. I was a bit shocked by it, but answered quickly.

  “Yes, I do know the pressure can be overwhelming. But Chloe was different, she didn’t bend to it quite as easily as I did.” I felt my statement was a good recovery considering it sounded a lot like he was taking a jab at me. He knew pressure was part of the reason I left school and hadn’t been back, before now. The college work wouldn’t have been so bad, but financial pressures and family health issues, made it unbearable. I couldn’t handle it all at the same time, and I broke. Remembering it saddened me, but not as much as it used to. “I thought she worked with you some on the big case.”

  I noticed him stay in control, except for the tension in his hands. “True, she was helping me with a case. It was just a small family land deal, nothing big though. I wish I could help you more.”

  Almost as an afterthought Oxley told me something
about a recent run-in between Chloe and Tab. “You know, they were volatile together. Maybe she just wanted off the merry-go-round.” It devastated me to think she could have taken her life over that jerk. She seemed stronger than that, but Oxley had a point.

  I left the office in a crabby mood. The Maserati was a seriously awesome ride, but it wasn’t mine. Time to face facts, and find out what was up with my car.

  I drove to the garage listed on the business card Garrett gave me. When I pulled up a heavy man covered in tattoos and grease was working on an old Dodge. He finished and closed the hood. He wiped his hands on a blue shop towel and came to greet me.

  “Hello, there. You Mattie?

  “I am.”

  He shook my hand with a hearty welcome. He was even larger than he looked under the hood. Still, I wasn’t without my manners.

  “Are you Garrett’s mechanic?”

  “That I am. Hear you’re old Honda’s giving you trouble.”

  “Yeah, it used to make a loud noise at start. Now, it doesn’t even start. Can you take a look?”

  “Sure thing, but we’re backed up right now. Why don’t you leave me the key and I’ll look her over this afternoon?”

  “I would, but I’ve got things to do today. Is there any way you can give it a quick check while I wait?”

  He eyed me for a minute, then the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.

  “Garrett didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what?” I was totally clueless.

  “He made arrangements for alternate transportation.”

  “What sort of transportation?” I said suspiciously.

  “Take your pick.” He tipped his head sideways to indicate a row of cars near the side of the building.

  “Are you serious?” There were half a dozen cars, all brand new, except one.