by Beth Byers
Carver’s attention, unlike Zee’s, was on Simon and I and then crossed to us. Carver’s expression was almost as concerned as Zee’s when he glanced at me, but I was sure she’d told him how many times a day I broke into coughing fits. How often I had to take a break in the office. The time, three days ago, when I took a break and fell asleep. They’d found me slumped over my desk and Az had driven me home.
“It doesn’t look good,” Carver said, adjusting his gun belt and glancing around the tearoom. “Her husband seemed pretty broken up.”
Simon nodded. “He seemed like an ok guy.”
“Keith lost it when she died,” I said. “But he was being a jerk beforehand. Only…I don’t think he was faking emotion when she died. He…he was begging her to stay with him.”
Carver nodded, but he sighed as he said, “Jane thinks it could have been poison. She suggested we gather up the tea stuff and what Margaret ate—just in case. Some symptoms aren’t quite adding up for Jane.”
None of us were surprised. It was almost as if we had been expecting something like that. Simon shoved his hands over his face and said, “Carver, man…what the hell?”
Carver understood, of course. There had been so many bad things happening in Silver Falls lately, and yet every time we were surprised. He shook his head and muttered, “This used to be a quiet little town.”
Zee glanced between us all and said, “You two should keep on with your vacation. We got this.” She gestured between her and Carver.
“Zee, babe,” Carver said. “I can’t take you out on my case with me. I need Simon. The other officers aren’t as experienced as he is.”
Zee snorted and then said, “There are investigators in New York City who don’t have the experience of Simon right now.” She scrunched her nose and shrugged and told Carver, “I don’t really need you. But Rose needs to have a break. She can hardly breathe. I called my daughter-in-law. She’s coming down to spend the rest of the summer. She’ll work at the diner, Rose. She’s done it before. It’ll be all right. You should leave Simon with Rose. If she keeps getting beat up, he’s going to end up taking a leave of absence and then where will you be?”
Simon looked at me and sighed. I knew already that he felt like he should help Carver. I agreed with Zee that Simon shouldn’t have to work all the time. I started to tell him it would be ok for him to work, we’d take our break later, but my breath hitched and the coughing hit me hard and fast.
When I could breathe again, Simon said, “I…”
Zee raised a brow at Carver. He didn’t flinch, but he did curse under his breath.
“We don’t need you right now, Simon,” Carver lied. “I’ll get the case started and call you when I need your help.”
Simon’s gaze was still fixed on me when he nodded.
“I will need you,” Carver said.
“I’m not helpless,” I rasped.
“Eventually,” Carver told Simon, ignoring my protest. “Right now, I don’t need you. I can lay the foundation of the case and catch you up later.”
* * * * *
I felt a little bad leaving the B&B and Josephine behind, but Simon insisted I go to the clinic and get a breathing treatment. As soon as I was done, he wanted to bring me back to our house, but I insisted we stay at the B&B. We’d already paid, and I felt like we should support Josephine. Unfortunately, I knew too well what it felt like to have a customer die in your business.
You felt as though there was a light over your head that was declaring that you killed them. You felt as though there should have been something you should have done. That you somehow failed the victim. I knew that it made it worse that she had people in her home, guests that she needed to be taken care of. As we came through the front door, I saw her in the parlor talking to one of the guests.
“What happened to the lady who died? The one with the grumpy guy?”
“Oh, oh me,” Josephine said. She sniffed and I could see her eyes were shining with tears, but she said, “Well…it isn’t clear really. They took her to the hospital. Maybe a stroke?”
He nodded and put his jacket hood up and went out the door, passing Simon and myself.
“Have you heard anything?” Josephine asked.
We shook our heads and she sighed.
“Keith isn’t back yet,” Josephine said. “I…I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t know what I should do. Should I get his things? Should I bring him something?”
I shook my head. They’d let him stay as long as he needed but eventually he’d have to go. It would be good for him to come back and have a safe place to lay down.
“Is her family staying here?”
“Carver already asked that,” Josephine said, but she shook her head. “The family is staying at those cottages over by the Tidal Hideaway. The ones you can rent as a group.”
Simon and I glanced at each other and then said, “But Keith and Margaret weren’t staying there?”
“No…I asked Margaret about it, but she said there wasn’t room for them.”
When we were back at our room, I asked, “So their family is staying at those cottages, what are they called?”
Simon didn’t answer. He groaned and flopped back onto the bed in our room. “We’re supposed to be not investigating.”
I looked up at the ceiling of the room. The bed was a canopy and the fabric over the top was lovely. The sheer fabric wrapped around the posts of the bed was lovely. The window seat that looked out over Main Street with the ocean in the distance was lovely. Our friends were trying to help us enjoy this place. They were trying to keep us away from the murder and to let us rest, to let me get better.
“You’re right.” I flopped down next to him and said, “My mind just goes there. It starts picking at the edges of what I know.”
“Mine too,” Simon said, rolling onto his side to face me. “You need to rest. We need to just let them give us a break.”
I pulled my phone into my hand. I probably should put it away. I probably should see if Simon wanted to go get a massage. I wanted to know what was happening, “Do you think that Carver let Zee go with him to learn more?”
“No,” Simon said with a laugh. “There’s no way.”
“I…” I was worried about Zee. I didn’t want her to be by herself. I was sure she was going to go to those cottages if she wasn’t already there.
“Zee’s not going to let Carver hold her back, is she?”
I shook my head certain he saw the worry for her in my eyes. After the last case, I was all the more concerned that Zee was out there alone. I had wanted to believe that just because a person snapped and killed someone, it didn’t mean that they were suddenly willing to kill anyone. I had been wrong, and I had been lucky to survive.
“You’re never going to rest if she’s out there by herself.”
I tried to mask my expression, but Simon stood up and pulled me up after him. “Let’s go find her.”
Chapter 4
I called Zee as Simon drove towards the cottages.
“Rose,” she said. “Whatever are you calling me for?” There was a bit of a smirk in her voice, a bit of a smirk and a bit of concern.
“Zee,” I said lightly, “We’re worried about you.”
“Oh? Do you think making pie is dangerous?”
“Don’t lie,” I told her. Rain started pouring as Simon aimed the car towards the little series of rental cottages. “You’re at the cottages.”
Simon pulled into the parking lot and I could see Zee’s red muscle car there. She was parked under the trees at the end of the lot, but there was an open spot next to her.
“I can see you,” I told Zee.
She laughed as she said, “I’m just watching right now.”
I got out of our car and walked over to Zee’s car, sliding into the front seat with her. “What’s happening? Do they know?”
“Yeah,” Zee said. “Carver went over earlier.”
“Did he know you were here?”
Zee’s nasty laugh was the answer. I grinned at her and her answering grin was wicked.
“Have you talked to any of them yet?”
She shook her head and Simon climbed into the back of Zee’s car. “No, I haven’t. But they’re having a barbecue.”
Zee jerked her head towards the covered patio and we could see several men standing around a grill.
“What?” I shook my head and looked back at Simon to see if he was as disturbed as I was. “That’s…I mean…that’s…weird, right?”
Simon nodded his gaze was fixed on the party. They were having a party while Keith was at the hospital with his dead wife. I couldn’t understand it.
“When I realized what they were doing,” Zee said, “I decided to…watch…to see if anyone seemed upset.”
There were several grade school aged kids playing with a ball in the grassy area. Several groups of adults talking. Some of them looked like they might be trying to hide what they were saying, but there wasn’t a single wet eye or face.
“Have you seen any of them cry?” I asked.
Simon’s gaze was fixed on two women who were probably close to Margaret’s age. The sisters? We couldn’t be sure, but though they were talking low and one had a hand on the other, they could have as easily been talking about makeup as a dead family member.
“They’re a weird bunch.” Zee’s expression said she felt they were more of a disgusting bunch.
My attendant was caught by several teenagers sitting at a table all looking down at their phones when one rose and walked away from the others. She was walking towards the car and the trees we were parked under. I avoided her gaze until she walked past the car, considered for a second, and then hopped out to follow the girl.
When she looked back at me, I tried for a caring smile and then carefully said, “Hey.”
The girl glanced me over, examining everything from my frizzy red hair, to my comfortable orthotic shoes. She had hair to her waist in two thick braids. Her thick black glasses were perched high up on her face framing bright blue eyes and something about the way she held her mouth told me she was perceptive. “Hi.”
“I’m Rose,” I told her. “I was there when Margaret…” I trailed off, suddenly realizing that maybe she hadn’t been told.
“When she died?” The girl asked. Her gaze narrowed on me, suspicious, and I held out my hands, palms up as if to say I wasn’t going to do or say anything she wouldn’t like.
I nodded carefully. “I was just…” I trailed off, not faking concern so much as wishing to express it and fearing it would be rejected by this heartless crew.
The girl shook her head to cut me off and then demanded, “Have you seen my grandpa?”
“I saw him when he got into the ambulance with your grandma.”
“Oh…” The girl looked over my shoulder at her family and then back at me. “She’s not my grandma. Poor Grandpa. He…he…shouldn’t be alone. Not even now.”
I blinked and then asked, “But…”
Margaret told me she had a daughter who was in her 40s. She described grandchildren. They were…I looked over to the gathering again. None of them were all that upset. Maybe it made sense if it were a step-grandmother? But…surely you still would care if your dad had lost his wife?
The girl got a look on her face that I couldn’t read, but her face firmed and she said, “Margaret and Grandpa were newlyweds. Grandma Kylie was married to Grandpa Keith. For like ever. And then he just left. And moved in with Auntie Margaret.”
I choked. The way she said Auntie made me think that she’d always said it.
The teen continued, “Yeah. Margaret and Grandma are sisters.” She paused for a second, “Yeah. Was Grandpa ok?”
I wanted to lie to her, but I couldn’t do it. “He was pretty upset.”
“Did he cry?”
I nodded.
The girl bit her lip and then said, “He told me that she was his true love. The woman he’d always loved. Grandpa never cries. Ever.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. If I knew her better, I’d take her hand or I’d give her a hug or something, but it didn’t seem quite right to randomly touch someone else’s minor child, young adult or not.
“Margaret seemed nice,” I said carefully.
“She was. It didn’t make it better for anyone else. But she was nice. She took good care of Grandpa.”
What kind of sister marries her ex-brother-in-law? I flinched. I couldn’t ask. I just couldn’t. But my head was racing. People talked about the ‘bro code,’ but that had nothing on the sister code. I could suddenly see why people were barbecuing instead of trying to comfort Keith. He’d left their mom for their aunt. He’d not just hurt his wife…he’d betrayed her to an extent that was terrible.
Poor Kylie. How did you mourn the woman—the sister—who had an affair or relationship with your ex? How did you get past something like that to a functional anything? When had the relationship started? After the divorce? Was the relationship the reason for the divorce? If Keith and Margaret had cheated together, how long had they been cheating?
“Yeah,” the girl said again as much at a loss of words as me. She frowned at me and then said, “Why are you here?”
“I just wanted to see if I could help with anything.”
“To be honest,” the girl said, “There’s nothing you can do for Grandma Kylie. She won’t welcome you. And everyone else already picked her over Margaret. Everyone but Grandpa picked Grandma.”
“And you?” I asked gently?
Tears filled the girl’s eyes. She sniffed once and then shrugged and darted down the path to the beach. I wasn’t going to chase her. I couldn’t. Instead, I walked back to the car and told the others what I’d learned.
“Ouch,” Zee said when I explained who Kylie was to both Margaret and Keith. “I wonder which one is Kylie.”
“She’s the number one suspect now,” Simon said sounding as exhausted as I was. “Her and Keith. I need to talk to Carver. He needs to know this if he doesn’t already.”
Zee started the engine of her car and said, “If you talk to Carver, he’ll give you a job. And you won’t be there to watch over Rose.”
Simon scowled at Zee who then didn’t even try to hide her manipulation when she said, “Or you could just go with us to talk to Keith.”
Before Simon could even answer, Zee started her muscle car and roared out of the lot.
“Zee…” Simon trailed off and then leaned back. He was sitting sideways in her car with his knees slanted towards Zee while his shoulders were slanted towards me.
“So Keith or Margaret,” Zee said. “I think we can figure this out before Carver.”
Simon snorted but he didn’t answer that very deliberate taunt.
I watched the tall trees between Silver Falls and Lincoln City go by before I shook my head. “It could be any of them. The kid who was upset about her grandpa. A child of Keith and Kylie? Maybe one who was trying to get his or her parents back together? Or maybe to punish his or her dad for leaving Mom? Or cheating on her? Sure Kylie is obvious, but couldn’t another sibling have done the murder? How did she die? That’s what I want to know. How did they kill her and if it was poison, like Jane thinks, what poison? When was it given to Margaret? How was it given to her? It has to be too soon for Jane to know, right?”
“Good questions,” Simon said adjusting his too-big body in the backseat. “Unless Carver was able to get a sample of the poison from the tea table. Even then…it would depend on how easy it was to identify.”
I sighed and then said, “I think the problem is that really any member of that family could be said to have a motive. It just depends on which one was angry enough to do it.”
“You don’t think it was the wife?”
“The ex? Was she devastated when her husband left or fine with it? They were together for a long time but…that doesn’t mean they were in love. Maybe losing her husband was a relief?”
“But to her sister?” Zees
voice was thick with sarcasm, and she was right. It was one thing to lose your marriage. It was far more another thing to have your sister choose your ex.
The drive down Highway 101 was slow even though it was a week day. The Oregon Coast was flooded with people over the summer, but sunny weekend days were the worst. The traffic through past Neskowin was extra slow. As we drove Zee didn’t talk about the murder at all. She asked about my lungs, the tea we’d experienced before the murder, she talked about her daughter-in-law, and admitted she was considering getting a new kitten.
“You have too many cats, Zee,” I told her. Her cats creeped me out, and I actually liked cats. It was just, she had so many and they tended to gather and stare at you as if they were deciding just where to attack you to take you down. Something like jugular, eyes, feast.
“Shut it,” Zee replied idly.
Jane was waiting for us when we reached the hospital. Simon must have messaged her while he was twisted around in the back.
“What do you know?”
Jane shrugged and then asked us for a rehash of what we’d seen with Margaret. As Simon described what he’d seen and then I added in from when he ran for Jane, she stretched her neck. There was a glint in her eye that told me she had some ideas about what killed Margaret.
“You know what it is, don’t you?” I demanded. An ambulance arrived at the hospital, however, and caught all of our attention. When she turned back to me, she’d schooled her face to impassivity.
Jane avoided my gaze as she glanced away and I gasped. “Are you going to lie?”
“There was a rasp in your voice, Rose.” Jane pulled out her stethoscope and made me breathe deep while she tried to avoid Zee’s questions about the poison.
“You are using being a doctor to avoid answering questions. I just had a breathing treatment.”
Jane nodded and said, “Your breathing sounds pretty good, I guess.”
“What do you think killed Margaret?” Zee demanded, hands on her hips.
“I don’t know anything,” Jane said for about the 15th time. “I can’t just tell you. It’s a problem if I tell you something and then it would be wrong. I’m the only doctor in Silver Falls. I have a reputation to maintain, and I…”