I took a breath. “I was there at her studio when Wheaton and Chief Rainwater took her in.”
“Why would you be at my sister’s studio?” Lacey asked.
“I saw her at the river last night before I was pushed in.”
“She would never push you in the river,” Lacey said, aghast at the very idea.
“I never said I thought she did, but she might have seen something since she was there.”
“Why was she there?” Lacey asked.
I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and shifted Emerson in my arms. The cat didn’t fight me. Now that he had gotten out for a little bit of wintertime adventure, he seemed to have forgiven me for penning him in the last couple of days. “She was working up the courage to talk to you,” I said.
“She was?” There were tears in Lacey’s voice. “See was going to come and see me?”
“Yes,” I said.
“That makes me so happy.” She took a shuddered breath. “We have to help her. Adele wouldn’t have anything to do with it. She’s only a child. How could the police chief think such a think about her?”
“Lacey, she’s not a child. She’s nineteen, and …”
“And what?” Lacey wanted to know.
I took a breath. “And she has a motive.” I went on to tell her about Adele’s studio.
“I cannot believe that you are taking the police’s side on this.”
“I’m not taking any side. I’m only telling you what I know before you go to the station. You should know what you’re facing.”
“Do you think that she killed Belinda?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I don’t think so.” I sounded even less convincing when I said that.
Emerson jumped out of my arms and ran down the street in the direction of Charming Books. I didn’t have time to chase the cat at the moment. I knew that he knew the way home.
“Well, I know that she didn’t,” Lacey said in a choked voice. “And I need you to prove it. Please, Violet.” She ended the call with a sob.
I stared at my phone for a second. Wondering how I could prove Adele’s innocence and wondering if I should. Little Women had led me to Adele, and she had been arrested. Maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.
I had to be sure, and the only way to be sure in this case was to go to the last place on earth I wanted to go: the mayor’s office.
I ended the call with Lacey, making no promises but telling her I would see what I could do. Then I texted my grandmother as I cut down a side street that would get me to the village hall a little bit faster. I told my grandmother what had happened the best that I could in the text message and said I would be back at the shop within the hour. I hoped that the last part was true.
The village hall was a giant building for a community of Cascade Springs’ size. Twenty-some stone steps led up to the front door, which opened into an enormous rotunda where village events were held, including the bicentennial ball last summer.
Unlike city halls in big cities, there were no security lines or metal detectors. The villagers of Cascade Springs were a very trusting bunch. A trust that I thought they needed to reevaluate with the number of murders that occurred in the village.
I had been in the village town hall a number of times, but I had never visited the mayor’s office. However, Nathan’s office was easy enough to find because there was a directory on the wall telling me to go to the second floor. To my left, there was a set of marble stairs.
I walked up them, and my boots squeaked on the marble. Antique doors lined the right side of the second floor. To my left was an iron railing that overlooked rotunda below. It was a beautiful view of the room that I had never seen before. I could see the giant compass pattern shaped out of marble on the floor and the different hues in the marble columns.
A large part of me was hoping that Nathan wasn’t there. It was possible he wouldn’t be, since there was so much turmoil over at his family’s winery right now. They might need him there. They being his mother.
The mayor’s office was the third door to my left. I put my hand on the door handle, but it was locked. “Can I help you?” a disembodied voice asked.
I jumped and then I noticed an intercom on the wall next to the doorframe. The red light was blinking. I pressed the button. “Hello, I would like to meet with the mayor if he’s in.” I let go of the button.
“Do you have an appointment?” the voice asked.
“No, but you can tell him that Violet Waverly is here to see him.”
“Please wait.”
I rocked back on my heels and waited. The minutes ticked by, and I considered pressing the button again to ask the voice if she had forgotten about me.
Before I could make up my mind, the door swung inward and a thin elderly woman with a pinched nose and glasses hanging from a chain around her neck stood on the other side with a sweater wrapped around her shoulders.
“I’m Bertie. I’m the mayor’s secretary.” She looked me up and down. “I thought you would look different.”
“Different how?” I asked as sweetly as I could with my teeth being on edge.
She sniffed. “If the mayor has been holding a torch for you all this time, I expected something more.”
It was one of those times when no response was the best option.
“You might as well come in. He wants to see you even though I discouraged him since he has a full schedule today. He is the mayor, and I have to follow his orders.” She said this last part grudgingly.
I stepped into the outer office. In front of me was Bertie’s desk, which was perfectly neat. There wasn’t a paper clip out of place. It was nothing like the office that my grandmother and I kept back in Charming Books, where everything was all helter-skelter. Judging by the desks, Grandma Daisy and Bertie would never be friends.
I wandered over to the giant map of Cascade Springs on the wall. It included Charming Books and all the other places I loved. I reached up as if to touch it.
“Don’t touch that!” Bertie snapped. “It’s an antique. The oils in your hands will destroy it.”
I shoved my hand into the pocket of my coat like I had been burnt.
She gave me a beady look, which reminded me of Faulkner, and walked behind her perfect desk. She lifted her phone. “Mr. Morton, Violet Waverly is here to see you.” There was a pause. “Very good.” She hung up the phone and smiled at me. “The mayor is just finishing up with his last meeting and will see you now.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Make it short. He has a meeting with the electric company within the hour.”
I thanked her, and just before I reached the inner office door, it opened. I jumped back.
Grant Morton stood on the other side of the door holding the knob. “You need to listen to me more often, brother. I’m the one who knows what to do when it comes to business.” Grant turned and marched right into me.
“Umph,” I said.
Grant squeezed my upper arms. “Violet, I’m surprised to see you here.” Still holding me by the arms, he glanced back at his brother. “I didn’t know you two lovebirds were back together. Meeting for an early lunch?”
I scowled at Grant. “We’re not.”
Grant was still holding on to me.
“You can let me go now,” I said through gritted teeth.
He gave my arms another squeeze. “I know better than to touch my brother’s lady.”
I glared at him. I wasn’t anyone’s lady.
“Grant, go back to the vineyard,” Nathan said in an authorial tone. “And tell Mom and Dad what I decided.”
“No, thank you. I think it’s a terrible idea, and I won’t have any part in it. You have their phone numbers. Just because I’m a year younger than you doesn’t me that you can order me around. I don’t work for you, Nathan.”
Nathan pressed his lips together.
“Violet,” Grant said. “Lovely to see you as always. Give Sadie my regards.”
Fat chance.
�
�Grant,” Nathan said. “We can talk about the rest of this when I get back to the winery tonight.”
Grant raised his eyebrows. “You’re coming to the old homestead, Mr. Mayor? To what do we owe this visit?”
“Mother asked me to come over for dinner. She said that she wanted us all to discuss some business now that this mess with Belinda has been cleared up.”
Grant tensed ever so slightly, but I saw it. “I don’t know why they want you involved. I’m the one who is there every day. I can handle the business.”
“I’ll be the one in charge when they’re gone,” Nathan said. “It’s what our parents want.”
“We’ll see about that, big brother.” He stomped out of the room, nearly knocking me over as he went.
Nathan gave me an apologetic smile after Grant stomped through the outer office door. “I’m sorry that you had to see that, and I’m sorry too that Grant brought up Sadie. I know it’s a sore spot between the two of you. Come inside.”
I stepped through the doorway, and before he closed it, Nathan said, “Please hold my calls, Bertie.”
“Whatever you want, Mr. Mayor.” By her tone, Bertie thought holding his calls was a terrible idea.
“Where did you find the dragon?” I asked as I scanned the room. It was very masculine, as I had expected it to be. Sadly, in its long history, Cascade Springs had never had a female mayor.
“Bertie?”
I nodded.
He laughed. “She came with the job. She’s been the mayor’s secretary for forty years. Not a single mayor has had the nerve to fire her, myself included.” He smiled, showing off his perfectly straight and white teeth. “Why don’t you take a seat? I’m surprised that you stopped by.”
I sat in an armchair in front of a marble fireplace. Nathan took the other chair. The fire was crackling nicely.
“I just came from Adele Perkins’ studio,” I said, cutting to the chase. “While I was there, Chief Rainwater and one of his officers came and arrested her.”
“Oh.” He leaned back in his chair and frowned. “I guess I knew that this wasn’t a social call, as much as I might wish it to be.”
I ignored his comment and went on. “Rainwater said that you were the witness who saw Adele kill Belinda.”
Nathan scowled. “The police chief has no right to give up his sources like that. I will have him reprimanded.”
I held out my hand. “Please don’t. I wasn’t going to let it go. He shouldn’t get in trouble for telling me this.”
“It’s unprofessional,” Nathan said.
“Please. Do it as a favor to me.” The last thing I wanted was for Rainwater to get into trouble because of me.
He frowned.
“Did you see Adele kill her?”
“No,” Nathan said. “But I saw her follow Belinda out into the vineyard. A few minutes later you found her dead.”
“There could have been someone else out there waiting for Belinda.”
“Like who? No one knew she was going to go outside. The only reason that she stomped away was the embarrassing scene with Lacey.”
He had a point.
“Maybe someone was already out there and took it as an opportunity.”
He shook his head. “You’re stretching. The police told me Adele had motive. Her sister was cutting her off after supporting her art. She would have to give up her painting and her studio and get a real job just like everyone else. I would say that that would be a motive to kill for someone who had been coddled her whole life.”
“Lacey thinks Adele is innocent.”
“Lacey is her sister. Of course she wants to believe that, no matter how strained their relationship is. No one wants to believe that their sibling is capable of terrible things. I don’t want to believe anything bad about Grant, but I know my brother is no saint. I have accepted that about him.”
“I thought Grant is doing better since leaving the water company.”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes for a moment. “He is. I just think Lacey shouldn’t look at Adele with rose-colored glasses. Her sister was the one who was trying to frame her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Violet, she had the letter in her hand when I saw her follow Belinda outside.”
“How do you know it was the same letter?”
“The envelope was pink. What are the odds that it was another pink envelope when that was found with Belinda’s body?”
He had a point. Adele had means, motive, and opportunity. I had also seen how volatile Adele could be. How she had destroyed that beautiful painting, and the screaming. It didn’t look good for Lacey’s youngest sister.
“Look, I know you want to help your friend and I admire your loyalty. You have always been loyal. It’s one of you best qualities.”
I stopped myself from making a smart comment on his lack of loyalty.
“My brother was here earlier because we rescheduled the frozen grape cutting for tomorrow night. We’re inviting everyone back. The grapes need to get off the vines while the temperatures are right, and we need the help to do it. I would love it if you came out.”
I stared at him. “You’re kidding, right? You know that your mother wouldn’t want me there. She told me never to go back to Morton Vineyards.”
He frowned. “It doesn’t matter what my mother wants. It’s my business too, and I’m inviting you.” He leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “Do you remember what fun we had when we did that together when we were kids?” He looked me in the eye. “Do you remember our first kiss?”
“Nathan, stop.” I held up my hand. “All that is over,” I said, feeling happy that I could say that and really mean it. The old feelings were over. All of them.
He stood up. “I miss you, Violet. Not just because I loved you, but I miss you as my friend. Let’s start over and just be friends again like when we were young. No pressure of anything else. I won’t ask anything more from you.”
Being friends sounded nice, but Nathan had spent his career running for office and talking people into what he wanted them to do. There was a reason he was the youngest mayor in the history of Cascade Springs.
“It’s important to me that you come. It’s an event for the entire village, and it wouldn’t be right if you weren’t there. Bring Grandma Daisy and Sadie too. Whoever you want.”
“I’m not bringing Sadie.” There was no question about that.
“Then Grandma Daisy. She loves to gather grapes.”
I stood up too. “I’ll talk it over with her.”
“Thank you, Violet.”
I nodded, feeling strangely like I had been tricked in some way, but I didn’t know exactly how.
Nathan opened the door and held it for me. Bertie was on the other side with her arms folded across her chest and scowling. “Mr. Mayor, your meeting with the electric company is here. They arrived early,” she said, sounding annoyed. “Clearly, no one pays attention to my schedules anymore. They are in the conference room.”
“Thank you, Bertie,” Nathan said, looking sheepish.
Bertie criticized Nathan for ignoring his calendar for a few minutes more, but I wasn’t listening. All I could think about was that everyone in the Cascade Springs wine industry would most likely be at the grape cutting the next night, and if I really believed Adele was innocent or wanted to believe she was innocent, this might be my one chance to do it.
I walked to the outer door and came to a decision. Turning back to Nathan, I said, “Okay. I’ll be there. I’ll be at the grape cutting.”
Nathan grinned. Perhaps he thought I had agreed to attend for reasons other than the murder. I was about to correct him, but instead I fled.
Chapter Thirty-Four
As far as stupid decisions I had made in my life, going to Nathan’s grape harvesting wasn’t even in the top ten. Even so, it remained a stupid idea, and I kicked myself for agreeing to go all the way back to Charming Books.
Le Crepe Jolie was right next door to the village
hall. As I reached the sidewalk in front of the town hall, I hesitated. I didn’t know if I should go there and tell Lacey what I’d learned. Before I could make my decision, Joel Redding hobbled out of the café on a set of crutches. His guitar case was nowhere to be seen. I guessed it was too hard to manage with a bum ankle.
He scowled at me. “You again.”
I frowned. “I was just thinking the same about you. What are you doing in the café?”
“I was just telling Lacey Dupont the good news that she was off the hook as far as the murder goes. She is no longer in danger of being blamed for the crime.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing. She wasn’t there.”
“She’s at the police station with her sister,” I said. “I don’t think she would have taken your announcement as good news.”
“Well, I solved the case, so I will just be leaving this village.”
I scowled at him, “You didn’t solve the case. I know Nathan was the one who told the police about Adele’s possible involvement.”
He frowned. “You seem to be well informed about what is going on.”
“This is my village. I can’t say that I’m sorry to see you leave it.”
He smiled a slow smile. “I’m leaving for now, but I have every reason to believe I will be back. There is something about this village that intrigues me. There is something about you that intrigues me.”
My mouth felt dry.
“Best of luck to you on your next trip to the natural springs. I hope the weather improves for you so that you don’t have to break the ice again with a stone.”
He turned and shuffled on his crutches down the sidewalk.
Part of me wanted to follow him and ask him what he meant by that, but a larger part of me didn’t want to know. I prayed that he would forget about Cascade Springs, Charming Books, and most of all, me.
Knowing that Lacey wasn’t at the café, I shook my head as I walked back to the bookshop. Emerson met me at the door and meowed. I removed my coat, hung it on the coat tree, and picked up the cat. Faulkner didn’t so much as fluff his wings when I walked into the room.
Grandma Daisy was ringing a customer out at the sales counter.
“It’s time to get back to the work of being a bookseller and put all this supersleuth stuff behind me,” I told the cat.
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