by K. J. Emrick
“Really? Why do you think that?”
“Remember, we keep the police department locked up.” He walked her out into the hallway away from the cold, staring eyes of Rick Santimaw. “If they were already in here waiting for Rick then they had to have their own way in. So, Rick leaves for a little bit or goes to the bathroom or whatever, and when he comes back the killer is right here waiting. He sees him—or her—sitting here, and then comes walking in the room without trying to defend himself, and gets shot.”
Looking back at the open door of the office, Cookie felt a chill. A friend of the chief’s. One who had a key. “Was it one of the other officers?”
“Maybe, but we aren’t the only ones with keys to this building.”
“Who else? Janitors?”
“There’s a cleaning woman who has a key, yes, but I’m betting Chief Santimaw would have pulled his gun if he found the cleaning woman behind his desk. Besides. I don’t think Julietta Horne is the type to commit murder.”
“Then who?”
Jerry hesitated, scrubbing a hand over his short hair. “Well. The mayor, for one.”
Cookie gaped at him. “You think… the mayor? Jerry, you can’t be serious. The mayor?”
“Well, I don’t want to think it’s one of the officers either.” He threw his hands up. “The town council have keys to all the municipal buildings. I think we need to consider it. Right now, I need to call this in. The chief of police, killed in his own station. Man alive. We’ll need to call in the state police for this one. Might as well just have them take over for us, considering how often they’ve been here this week.”
“Uh, that raises a question,” she said to him. “Who’s in charge now?”
His frown deepened. “Ordinarily, that would be me. I’m the most senior officer. Except, I’m suspended, so.”
He looked back at the office with her, and she saw him swallow hard. “I’ll make the call out in the other room. I can’t be down here by the office anymore. I’ll call the mayor. She’ll decide who’s in charge.”
“And then, after she tells you who’s running the Widow’s Rest police department, you can ask her if she killed Rick?”
“I’ll be a little more subtle about it than that.” Jerry smiled weakly at her as he hooked his arm through hers and led them out to the main room with the desks and the phones. “But yes, it might be worth knowing if she made it to her interviews on time.. If she was there, she couldn’t be here killing Rick. If she wasn’t there in front of the cameras… Yeah. Poor Rick. He did love the spotlight.”
“Well, he’s going to get it now,” Cookie said, aware of how close she was to making a joke about the deceased herself. “Is it possible… do you think maybe Rick let his killer into the department? The killer could have come here to the police department after we left, right? Or… he could have left like we said, and come back with the killer when he returned, couldn’t he?”
“You mean, could he have left to meet with the mayor?” He said, thinking it over. “And then when she got back here she shot him in his office?”
“Well, I was actually thinking of someone else.”
“Really? Who?”
“Someone who might have a reason to come looking for those newspaper scans just like we did.” She couldn’t believe she was going to say this, but in a way it made perfect sense. “What about our town librarian?”
He looked at her incredulously. “Kimberly? I don’t think she could kill a fly. I’ve never even known her to raise her voice.”
“You spend a lot of time in the library, Mister Stantsted?”
He coughed into his hand before sitting down at one of the desks. “Not a lot, no. I mean, I go in there when I need to do research. Sometimes it’s just easier to read something in a book than to search it up on the internet. It’s not like me and Kim spend a lot of time together.”
“Oh, it’s Kim now?”
He shifted in his seat. “That’s her name, isn’t it? Now, shush. I have to make a phone call.”
“Is your face turning red?” She was enjoying teasing him now. There was death all around her and it felt good to have her man here to make it better. But then she started wondering. How often did Jerry go down there? He obviously knew Kimberly better than he was letting on. There couldn’t be anything between them… could there?
Now, stop right there, she told herself. There’s no way that Jerry would ever do something like that to her. Ever. Still… he was blushing.
He couldn’t know her too well. He’d never heard her raise her voice? Cookie had seen her blow her top and slam her fists over a few stolen CDs.
Jealousy was definitely a double-edged sword, she thought. Now that she’d entertained the ridiculous idea of Jerry spending time with Kimberly the librarian she couldn’t shake it. Was Kimberly here at the police station when Rick Santimaw was killed? No. Jerry was probably right. She didn’t seem like the killer type.
Just in case, she decided to go and ask Kimberly herself.
Jerry was finishing his phone call. She knew that as soon as he was done this building was going to be swarming with people. Officers, both local and state police. The mayor and the selectmen, probably. News reporters too, because they were already here to cover the centennial celebration and there wouldn’t be any way to keep this quiet. As much as the mayor wanted to keep the secrets of the town… well, secret… there wasn’t going to be any keeping this one.
She definitely didn’t want to be here when all of that happened. “Jerry, I’m going to go over and talk to Kimberly at the library.”
“Cookie,” he said, in all seriousness. “I’m really not spending time with her.”
She kissed him on the top of his head. “I would never doubt you. Not when we’re getting married in two months.”
He breathed out in relief to hear her say that. Catching hold of her left hand he brought it up to his lips and kissed her engagement ring. “How come I don’t get an engagement ring? It’s not fair that only women get one.”
“Silly man. I can bake you some of your favorite muffins later if it will make you feel better.”
“It just might,” he told her.
More small talk, more teasing, all in an attempt to forget the tragedy laying just up the hall. It was a very bad thing that had happened here, and neither of them had time to process it. Not if they were going to figure out who killed Rick Santimaw.
“So,” Jerry said, his smile slipping away again. “The mayor is on her way here, and she’s bringing a few of our officers with her. I still have to call the state police. It was her suggestion to let me do that. Apparently, she’s forgotten all about how she suspended me. Why don’t you take my car and go over to the library. If nothing else we’ll be able to cross Kim off our list of suspects if you can get her alibi.”
Cookie looked back to the chief’s office. Thankfully, from this angle, she couldn’t see Rick laying dead on the floor. In a lot of ways, this was worse than finding the skeleton of Jozebus Merriam hidden away under her shop. She knew Rick. She didn’t like him, but seeing someone she knew murdered… Well. It brought back the moment when she had found her son-in-law’s body after he’d been killed. Lots of bad memories, and lots of bad feelings.
It occurred to her, very suddenly, exactly how many of her memories had been of death recently.
“Are you okay?” Jerry asked her after another moment had passed.
“I suppose,” Cookie said, “that I’m as good as can be expected. I can’t believe Rick is dead. He was just yelling at us a few hours ago.”
Jerry kissed her ring again, reminding her that she had plenty of good memories to even out the bad. Her life was complicated, and crammed full of more stuff than a woman of sixty-three should ever have to concern herself with. Even for all of that, she wouldn’t change having this man in her life.
Jerry was quite possibly the best thing that had ever happened to her.
***
Cookie parked Jerry’s car at t
he library just in time to see Kimberly locking the doors for the day. She was whistling to herself, checking her watch, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere. When she saw it was Cookie pulling up to the curb she smiled and waved and waited on the sidewalk.
“Hi there.” She had several books held in her hands, balancing them precariously. “I was just heading out. I wanted to get to see at least some of the centennial celebration. I hear there’s going to be fireworks tomorrow.”
“Yes. That will certainly be fun.” Cookie had never really cared for fireworks. All noise and flash and over with in just a few minutes. In a way, they reminded her of her ex-husband. “So, Kimberly, I was talking with Jerry. I didn’t realize that you and he are good friends.”
Kimberly’s cheeks reddened. “Well. He’s a very good man, your boyfriend.”
“Fiancé,” Cookie felt the need to correct her.
“Um. Right. Yes.” She shifted her load of books, looking uncomfortable. “Once upon a time I thought… me and Jerry, you know? He’s so handsome in that uniform he wears, and he’s so nice, and he always listened to me whenever I needed to talk. Not a lot of people notice me.” She laughed nervously, and then bit her lower lip to keep herself from saying anything else.
In those few words, Cookie recognized the echo of her own feelings towards Jerry back when they were first dating. “He is an amazing man,” she said, telling herself again that she had nothing to worry about. All the women in the town could fall in love with him and it wouldn’t matter because she was the one he picked. Kimberly wasn’t a threat. To her or anyone else. Standing here now, she was sure of that. “You weren’t at the police station earlier, were you?”
It wasn’t quite a question, but it still managed to catch the meek librarian off guard.
“Um. No. The police station? I try to avoid places like that. They give me hives.” Kimberly tried for a laugh but didn’t quite find it. “Why in the world would I be down at the police station. Oh! You mean because Chief Santimaw checked out the copies of those newspapers and then didn’t return them? Listen, I know I get a little upset at things like that, but I could never confront… the chief of police? Oh my, no. I’d be more likely to send him a sternly worded letter than to say anything to his face. I’m, you know, a bit shy. He’s the chief of police after all. I’m sure he just forgot.”
Cookie knew better. Santimaw wanted those newspapers for a reason. The reason would die with him, if she and Jerry couldn’t solve this mystery.
“Is there something wrong?” Kimberly asked her. “Because I was just about to leave…”
“Yes, there is a problem. Um.” Might as well say it, she decided. In a matter of a few minutes the news would be all over Widow’s Rest. “Chief Santimaw is dead.”
Her eyes went wide. “He’s… dead? How?”
“Someone murdered him.”
She watched Kimberly’s reaction carefully. The flush that had tinged her cheeks earlier drained from her face. It was obvious that this was news to her.
Then her jaw dropped. “You think I had something to do with it? Is that why you’re here asking if I went down to the station? Cookie, I couldn’t… I wouldn’t!”
“Can you prove that? Jerry told me you weren’t the type to do something like this, Kimberly, and I agree with him but Chief Santimaw did have those CDs from the library and you knew he had them. We need to know that you didn’t go down there looking for them.”
Her expression changed. Suddenly, she looked almost happy. “You need to know I’m not a suspect. Wow. This is… this is actually kind of cool. I’m a suspect. I can’t believe anyone would think of me as a suspect. Can you… can you come back in the library with me? I mean, I don’t have surveillance cameras in there or anything but I can show you my computer where I’ve been chatting with this guy I know. In Texas. It’s all timestamped and everything. I’ve been talking with him since you and Jerry left earlier. The whole time, actually. Not a lot of people coming into the library since the celebration is going on. Not much for me to do except talk to him. To my friend.”
Cookie nodded. “I don’t need to go in and check, Kimberly. I believe you. You aren’t a killer.”
“No, I’m not,” she said, the corner of her mouth tugging upward. “I’m not that kind of girl. Still, it was nice to be considered as a suspect. Most people in this town ignore me. You know what I mean? I don’t think most of the people in Widow’s Rest even know who Kimberly LaShomb is. You know me. Jerry does, too, and a handful of other people, but that’s all. I don’t, um… I don’t have a lot of friends. That’s always been hard for me. Nobody notices me. And now you came and asked me if I’m a killer. In a way, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.”
Cookie walked back to her car after promising Kimberly, again, that she wasn’t going to be arrested. She actually looked disappointed. Well. Everyone dealt with death in different ways, she supposed.
Jerry gave her a quick call to let her know that he was going to be tied up for a long time. He was keeping her name out of it because it was bad enough that he’d come back to the police department while he was suspended. If he told anyone that he’d brought his fiancé with him, well, that might just get him fired.
“Which reminds me,” he told Cookie. “I’m not suspended anymore.”
“Oh, Jerry, I’m so happy to hear that. I hated that they did that to you. We both know that you didn’t do anything wrong.” She turned the car up the next street, turning up the volume on her hands-free earpiece. Anthem Way was just around the corner. “So when do you go back to work?”
“Uh, now actually.” She could hear the deep breath he sucked in over the phone. “The mayor just told me she’s appointing me as the interim police chief.”
Cookie nearly missed the stop sign. “You’re the chief?”
“Interim chief.”
“But you’re the chief.”
His soft laughter lifted her heart. “Fine, have it your way. I’m the chief.”
“Jerry that’s amazing. That’s wonderful!” She turned the corner and drove into the driveway of her bakery, around back to the little parking area she used for her own car, next to that storage shed under the bathroom window. “I’m so proud of you honey.”
“I didn’t exactly earn it,” he said. “Rick’s dead. Kind of makes it hard to be happy about something like this.”
“Then I’ll be happy for both of us,” she told him. “I’m sorry about the way it happened Jerry, but it’s about time. You deserve this. Don’t ever forget that. Call me later to let me know what’s going on. By the way, we were right. Kimberly had an alibi. She’s not the killer.”
“I figured.”
“She also has a crush on you.”
“Yeah… I figured that, too. Are you mad?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she chuckled. “You’re mine. I won’t be jealous about other women drooling over you. I don’t blame them at all. So, that puts us back to finding a killer who had a key to get into the department, doesn’t it?”
“I think so. Listen, I have to go.” She heard someone nearby talking to him, and he took the phone away from his ear long enough to answer and then he was back with her. “I’ll call you later, Cookie. You at the bakery now?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Good,” he said. “Be prepared for a visitor. Mayor Fieldberg said she wanted to talk to you about something. So, I guess maybe we’ll both have stuff to talk about later.”
“While we read hundred-year-old newspapers. As dates go, we’ve done better.”
“True,” he pointed out, “but we’ve done worse.”
***
In the kitchen of the bakery, Cookie helped Clarissa and Hamish clear up from the afternoon rush of customers. It was six o’clock, and they were practically sold out again, and turning the closed sign on the front door had felt good to Cookie. Lots of sales meant lots of happy people, and money in the bakery’s bank account. She was awfully hungry though. Sh
e’d slept through lunch with her nap upstairs. Now it was past dinner time and she still hadn’t taken the time to stop and get something for herself to eat.
Unlike Cream. He was happily munching down scraps of leftover eggs mixed with a few bites of blueberry muffins. She figured he deserved a treat after being left alone so much lately. They usually spent every spare minute of the day together. She didn’t want him to think she’d forgotten about him. No. She would never want that.
Hamish was very quiet while they worked. Clarissa and Cookie talked and talked, about serious things like today’s murder, and about silly things like wondering what a muffin with a pickle center would taste like. They tried to include him, but for the most part he only nodded and kept his eyes from meeting anyone else’s.
When she couldn’t stand it anymore, Cookie came over and wrapped both of the teenagers into a grandmotherly hug. “It’s all right, Hamish. Jerry will make sure that those two hellions pay for what they did to you. We’ll get help for your father, too.”
“You know we will, Hamish,” Clarissa promised him, adding a kiss to his cheek. “We’re part of your family now. Me and grandma and you.”
Cream looked up at them with a bark, crumbs stuck in the tan fur around his muzzle.
Cookie looked down at him as she let Hamish go. “And Cream too, don’t forget.”
“He’s been a little skittish all afternoon, Gram.” Clarissa bent down to scratch around the Chihuahua’s ears. “Like he was scared of something.”
“Hmm.” Cookie looked over to the corner of the room where the screen of blankets was hanging. “Maybe it’s the door. I know it’s making me nervous.”
“What are you going to do with the cellar?” Hamish asked, which was the most Cookie had heard him say since she’d gotten back.
“I’m not sure.” She shrugged. “To tell you the truth my initial thought was to fill it in and go back to pretending it’s not even there. But, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a cold storage for my flour and dry goods instead of stacking them here in the kitchen.”