by Cindy Bell
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“Detective Ballantine is at the cottage right now. He said you weren’t there. He’s not too happy. I thought you said you were going to stay put?”
“What does the detective want?”
Charlotte started the van.
“Ally, are you in a car? Where did you go?” He sighed. “You know what, don’t tell me. Just get back to the cottage as soon as possible.” He hung up the phone before Ally had a chance to respond. She winced as her grandmother pulled out of the parking lot.
“Ballantine is waiting for me at the cottage.”
“Did Luke say why?”
“No. I’m sure he wouldn’t tell me to go back if he thought it was to get arrested though. Well, at least he wouldn’t have at the beginning of the phone call. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“He’s upset?”
Ally stared out through the windshield. “Very.”
“Well, maybe he’ll brighten up when he finds out that we have a photo of the earring.”
“Maybe.” Ally bit into her bottom lip. “But I don’t exactly want to have to tell him we were in the room.”
The closer Ally got to Blue River the more anxious she became. What if Ballantine was there to arrest her? Sure the case had been handed over to the Mainbry police department, but that didn’t mean that Ballantine couldn’t come up with another reason to arrest her or arrest her on their behalf.
Chapter Seven
As the van approached the cottage Ally saw that Ballantine stood in front of it.
“Want me to keep driving?” Charlotte glanced over at her.
“No. That might get Luke in trouble. I need to at least cooperate for his sake. I mean he has been defending me.”
“All right.” She reached out and gave Ally’s hand a squeeze. “We’re in this together, okay?”
Ally nodded. Charlotte parked the van in the driveway. Ally stepped out and walked towards the detective very slowly.
“Well, you’re a bit hard to find, Ally Sweet.” He put his hands on his hips which made his belly look even rounder. “Where have you been?”
“Is there something I can help you with, Detective?”
“Absolutely. I’d like to know why you were helping your friend Denise hide Dustin’s body.”
“I wasn’t.” Ally crossed her arms. “Denise did not do this.”
“You know that how?’
“I know that because she’s a good person who would never hurt anyone, just like me,” Ally said firmly. “I’m sorry, Detective, but you have this all wrong.”
“You might think that right now, but you’re going to find out things are very different once she’s in front of a jury. I’m sorry, Ally, but there’s nothing about this case that makes Denise or you look innocent, including the fact that your boyfriend met you at the carwash, in his patrol car.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Ally set her jaw. “Now, you’re just trying to upset me. I know what you’re doing. You can spin this however you want, but neither of us had any idea that Dustin was in my trunk when I stopped at the carwash.”
“Then why is it that you decided to wash your car right after staying at the hotel?”
Charlotte walked up behind Ally, but remained silent.
“To be honest it was because of the valet. When he drove the car back to me I was pretty embarrassed that it was so dirty. I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. So I decided since I had some extra time I would hit the carwash on the way home.”
“Pretty convenient.”
“If you say so. However, I had no idea at that point that anything was in my trunk.”
“I also noticed that your trunk was pretty much empty. To make room for a body?”
“No, to make room for the boxes I intended to move to my grandmother’s apartment at Freely Lakes. I’ve been through all of this before. I thought Mainbry was assigned to the case now?”
“Mainbry is. I’m helping out, since you’re a local.”
“How generous of you.”
“I like to think so. Ah, Elm, I didn’t think it would be long before you showed up.”
Ally turned to see Luke walk up the driveway. He scowled as he looked at Ballantine.
“Why are you questioning her without her lawyer?”
“She didn’t ask for a lawyer. Did you?” Ballantine looked at Ally.
“No I didn’t.”
Luke looked over at her, then back at Ballantine. “What is this about?”
“Mainbry police took Denise Mitchell into custody. So far she’s not talking. So, I thought maybe Ally would give me some idea of how she knows Denise.”
“Do you really want to know?” Ally sighed.
“You don’t have to tell him anything, Ally.” Luke frowned.
“Who exactly do you work for again, Elm?”
“I know her rights,” Luke said.
“Stop.” Ally held up her hand. “It’s fine. I’ll tell him. Denise was good friends with my mother, before she passed away. She moved away so I haven’t seen her for years.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Ally, but all that tells me is that you don’t know Denise very well at all,” Detective Ballantine said.
“No, I guess I don’t. But my grandmother is friends with her mother. Isn’t that right, Mee-Maw?”
“Yes, I am. I know Denise quite well, and she would never hurt anyone.” Charlotte folded her hands in front of her. “Maybe you’d like to add me as a suspect to your list?”
Ballantine smirked at her. “A beautiful woman such as yourself? I doubt that you’d step on an ant.”
Charlotte glared at him as he turned his attention back to Ally. “So, the two main suspects in a murder case would never hurt anyone. But someone is dead.”
“And you’re wasting your time here, when you could be investigating the actual crime,” Luke said.
“Watch it, Elm,” Ballantine warned. “I’ve already spoken to the chief about how close you are to this case. Don’t make me file a complaint on top of it.”
“Luke isn’t doing anything wrong.” Ally felt her cheeks heat up as she tried to control her anger at Ballantine’s accusation and rudeness.
“Maybe not to you,” Ballantine said.
“Enough.” Luke stepped away from Ally and came to Ballantine’s side. “We’re on the same side, whether you realize it or not. If I suspected that Ally had anything to do with this crime, I would be doing the same thing that you are. But I know that she doesn’t. Yes, I am willing to stake my badge on it, so don’t bother with the threats. If you really want to be of help, you should try finding out who stole the surveillance video from the hotel.”
“There are people working on that.”
“One more couldn’t hurt.” Luke straightened his shoulders. “It will certainly get you a lot further than standing here.”
“You better not be wrong about Ally, Elm. Or you’re going to lose more than your badge.” Ballantine turned and walked away. Charlotte unlocked the front door. Ally pulled Luke into the cottage.
“You have to stop that.”
“Stop what?” Luke asked.
“Stop risking things for me.” Ally crossed her arms and looked into his eyes.
“I’ll just give you two some privacy.” Charlotte stepped into the kitchen.
“Ally, I’m not going to apologize for that.”
“Why not? Don’t you know how terrible it makes me feel every time you risk your career for me?”
“I’m sorry that you feel that way, but I’m not sorry for taking the risk. I believe that you are innocent.”
“Luke…”
He stepped in front of her and looked into her eyes again. “I’m going to help you.”
“You’re quite stubborn, you know that?”
“I have to be. You’re more stubborn than me.”
Ally laughed. “You always make me smile, even when I’m ready to scream.”
“So, what did you find?”
“Ally, I know you went to the hotel to search for something or to talk to someone. So, what did you find?”
“You’re not mad?”
“What would be the point?” He smiled at her. “It doesn’t seem to matter to you if I think you’re making the right choice.”
“That’s not exactly true.”
“It doesn’t matter right now. What matters right now is whether we can find some evidence to clear your name. So, what did you find?”
“I found a diamond earring.”
“Where?” He watched as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.
“Under the bed in the room that Dustin stayed in.”
“Ally! You broke into the crime scene? I knew you had something to do with that false fire alarm at the hotel, I just knew it.”
“Actually, that was me.” Charlotte raised her hand as she walked back into the living room.
“The two of you.” Luke rolled his eyes to the ceiling, then looked at the photo of the earring that Ally showed him.
“If we can find the matching one, then we might find out who shared wine with Dustin or even who the murderer is,” Ally said.
“That’s true, but how are we going to find it? It’s not like a diamond stud is that unusual. The person who lost it might not even miss it,” Luke said as he took her phone from her and looked at the photo. “And now of course I somehow have to get Mainbry to go back and search the room without letting them know that I know it’s there.”
“We won’t have to tell them if we find the person it belongs to and we get a confession or admission out of them,” Ally said.
“We first have to find them, which is the hard part,” Luke said.
“If the person does know that it’s missing, I bet she’s pretty interested in getting it back,” Ally said. “She will probably try to get back into the room.”
“Maybe. But, if she doesn’t know it’s missing in the room she might think that she lost it somewhere else,” Luke said.
“Well, at the very least we know that it’s a woman who can afford to wear a diamond stud earring. That might help us figure out who it is.” Charlotte shrugged. “Or eliminate who it isn’t.”
“That’s true. But maybe it has nothing to do with Dustin at all. Maybe it’s from a previous guest,” Ally said.
“It’s possible. I found out that the lead homicide detective from Mainbry is pretty frustrated with the response he got from the staff at the hotel. I guess because Denise has been arrested. I think they feel they want to protect her.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Denise is a likeable person.”
“Apparently Denise and Dustin were engaged at one point.”
“That still doesn’t mean that she did anything to him,” Ally said defensively.
“Of course it doesn’t, but it lends credence to the idea that they might have gotten into a lover’s spat.” He sighed. “I can’t question the staff and without video surveillance we’re really playing a guessing game.”
“I think the next step is to talk to Denise.” Ally looked over at Luke. “She is the key to getting more information.”
“She’s still in custody.” Luke shook his head. “I don’t know if we can make that happen.”
“Isn’t she allowed visitors?” Ally asked.
“Yes Ally, but you have to be cautious. You don’t want to make yourself look more guilty by going to visit. We need to figure out a way to prevent that.”
“I’m not sure if there is one. I’m just going to visit a friend. I can’t waste my time worrying about what people think. I think that Ballantine thinks I’m guilty, and who knows what he is telling the Mainbry detectives. I think it’s important that we find out the truth as soon as possible.” She braced herself for an argument from Luke, but he only nodded.
“I think you’re right, Ally. The best way to find out what has happened is to talk to her.” He met her eyes for a lingering moment. Ally was the first one to look away.
“Can I go now?” She asked hopefully.
“No, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. It’s too late now, and she’s probably not processed yet.”
“I feel awful every time I think of her being stuck in there,” Ally said.
“It’s not your fault that she’s there, Ally.” Charlotte hugged her.
“Isn’t it? If I had just looked in my trunk, maybe all of this could have been solved faster. As it is some evidence might have been destroyed because I took the car through the carwash. There might have been prints, or something that the police could have used to identify the killer.”
“I doubt that if someone went to all the trouble of putting the body in the trunk, that they didn’t bother to wear gloves or be careful not to leave a print. I think what you need is a night of rest, Ally,” Luke said. “I’ll try and set up a time for you to see Denise in the morning. I’ll stop by on my way to work and let you know if I managed to arrange it.”
“Thanks Luke.” Ally looked into his eyes.
“Make sure you get some rest, you look tired.”
“I’ll try.”
“Do you want to stay for dinner, Luke? I can fix something real quick.” Charlotte started back into the kitchen.
“No thanks. I’m meeting someone actually.”
Those words made Ally’s head snap back towards him. “Oh?” Ally said.
“Yes. In fact I should leave now or I’m going to be late. Call me if you need anything, Ally.” He turned and walked out of the cottage. Ally stared after him in mild shock.
“Ally?” Charlotte asked.
“Why did you invite him to dinner?” Ally looked at her grandmother.
“I thought it might be nice.”
“Well, clearly he is not interested.” Ally shook her head.
“Someone sounds jealous. Maybe if you showed more interest in him, you wouldn’t have to be worried about who he’s having dinner with. Come help me make some pasta.”
“I don’t know if I can eat.”
“Trust me, when you smell my sauce you’ll be able to eat.”
“I hope so.” Ally rubbed her stomach. “It’s been a long day.”
Ally joined her grandmother at the stove to help her make the sauce. Really it was just a way to distract herself from what had happened. She didn’t want to think about the possibility of being arrested, or Denise not getting out. She just wanted to be with her grandmother, relaxed and laughing over splattered sauce. However, once dinner was on the table it was clear that Charlotte had other intentions.
“So, about Luke.”
“No, I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Ally.”
“Mee-Maw.” She took a big bite of her pasta so that she wouldn’t be able to talk for some time.
“Sweetheart, I know that you got your heart broken.” She patted Ally’s hand. “But you have to know a good man when you see one.”
“I do. I know that Luke is a good man. But that doesn’t make him the man for me.”
“He’s quite insistent that he is.”
“Mee-Maw, he’s just flirting.”
“You can tell yourself that, but I think you know better, Ally.” Charlotte passed her a roll and buttered her own to go with her pasta. “If you keep pushing him away, he’s going to have more dinners with other people. Are you going to be able to handle that?”
Ally set her jaw. She wanted to argue with her grandmother, but she couldn’t. She had hit the nail on the head. Maybe Ally wasn’t ready for dating Luke, but she didn’t relish the idea of Luke dating anyone else.
“Maybe not.” Ally finished her food and picked up her plate. “But what I do know is that until this case is solved, I can’t even think about it.” She took her grandmother’s plate. “I’ll handle the dishes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. You’re the guest, remember?”
“Ha!” Charlotte tossed a dish towel at her. “Better watch that sass
, young lady, I will never be a guest in this house.”
Ally smiled as she caught the towel. “That’s very true.”
“I think I’ll go home and check on Rose. If she has heard the news she will be very upset.”
“Okay. Is it okay if I drop you off and then I can keep the van to go to Denise in the morning?”
“You can have the van. I want to walk home though.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, it’s still light out and I could use a little exercise.”
“As long as you’re sure, Mee-Maw, you know I don’t mind taking you.”
“Of course I know that.” Charlotte smiled. “Do you want me to come with you to Denise tomorrow?”
“No thanks, I’ll be fine. It’s better if you open the shop.”
“Okay. Ally, when you see Denise, please tell her that I’m thinking of her.”
“I will.” She hugged her grandmother and walked her to the door. Arnold came to the door to say goodbye. Charlotte bent down and pet the pig on the head.
Once Ally had watched her grandmother walk down the driveway, she returned to the kitchen. As she washed the dishes she went back through the events of the day. If there was just one thing that she missed, she might never be able to solve the case. However, even going back through it in her mind didn’t yield any results. She finished the last dish and put it in the drainer. She leaned against the counter for a moment. The weight of the day was heavy on her shoulders.
Even though it had only been a few hours since they had found Dustin, it seemed like a lifetime. Ally wondered what Denise was doing at the same moment. She recalled her mother and Denise laughing and playing cards at the kitchen table, while she did her best to play along. Denise was a big part of her childhood, and she didn’t want to fail her. She walked away from the counter and into her room. Peaches followed right after her. When she sat down on her bed, Peaches jumped right up into her lap.
“Yes, I need to talk.” Ally pet the top of the cat’s head. “I just don’t understand how the body ended up in my trunk. It could have been the valet, he has access to all the keys. But I’m sure there are other people at the hotel that have access to those things, too. The valet can’t be the only suspect.” She flopped back against the bed and yawned. “Luke was right, I am exhausted.”