by Kate Bell
Lucy and I were moving at a nice slow jog. Lucy hadn’t kept up with her running after she had begun last month and she was breathing hard. I hoped we’d run into Ellen soon, so Lucy could have a break.
“I hate this,” she gasped. It was cold out, but she had a ring of sweat around the neck of her gray t-shirt. Her feet plodded along and I wondered how much longer she would make it.
“I love it,” I said with a smile. I was teasing a little, but most of the time, I did enjoy it. As long as I didn’t think about it too much.
She rolled her eyes at me and pointed at someone coming toward us on the trail. That someone had bright green hair, so I knew we had our woman. We slowed to a walk so Lucy would have time to catch her breath. She took a swig from her water bottle and gasped for more air.
“What are we going to say when we get to her?” she asked between panting.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Why did you do it?”
“Stop it. We can’t do that. I’d love to see her hang though. Does Maine hang people?”
I snorted. “Highly unlikely. Let’s see how she acts. Maybe she’ll be chatty and just come out with it.”
“Sure she will,” Lucy said.
“Good morning, Ellen, how are you?” I called when we got closer.
She looked me up and down and rolled her eyes. I could see this was going to go really well. Not.
“Why did you do it?” Lucy asked, her voice shaking.
Oh boy. No subtlety with that one.
“Do what?” Ellen asked, curling her lip at Lucy.
“Kill Diana. She never did anything to you,” she spat out. Lucy sounded like she was about to completely lose it. I put a hand out and placed it on her arm.
“What are you talking about? Diana had a heart attack or something. If she would have gotten a little exercise once in a while and laid off the Taco Bell, maybe she’d still be around,” Ellen spat out.
“Wrong. She was poisoned. Someone killed her and I think it was you. She never did anything to you!” Lucy almost wailed. This was going from bad to worse. I was really regretting bringing Lucy out here.
“What do you mean, she never did anything to me? She fired me!” Ellen protested, putting her hands on her hips. Ellen was no shrinking violet. I was starting to worry about being out in the middle of nowhere on the running trail with no witnesses. She was, after all, a possible murderer and her height made her all the more intimidating.
“You were stealing from the cash register!” Lucy exclaimed, putting her hands on her own hips.
Ellen took a step toward her, leading with her ample chest and I was worried there would be bloodshed. I reached into my pocket for my phone and took a step toward both of them.
“Is that what she told you?” Ellen said. I could hear a slight crack in her voice and it surprised me.
“Yes, that’s what she told me!” Lucy said, nodding her head for emphasis.
Things were getting out of hand. “Listen, we need to calm down here,” I said. “There’s no need for everyone to get riled up.”
“Riled up?” Ellen said, looking at me. Her cheeks were bright pink, and I didn’t think it was because of the cold. “What, are we on Hee Haw? She accused me of theft!” she said, pointing at Lucy.
“Oh, I know, and that’s so not nice,” I said, trying to calm things down. I decided I was going to ignore the Hee Haw comment. I was a lady after all. “Lucy, you need to apologize. I’m sure you don’t know all the facts.”
Lucy gave me a warning look and then turned back to Ellen. “It’s what Diana told me.”
“Well, it’s not true,” Ellen said. “She always hated me. She thought I was beneath her and she wanted to get rid of me without causing herself any trouble. So I guess she told people I was stealing.” She jutted her chin out when she said it, and something told me she was telling the truth.
Lucy stood her ground and stared at her. I knew she didn’t want to believe that her beloved Diana would lie about such a thing. But it looked like she was beginning to believe what Ellen was saying.
“So, you never stole anything?” she asked.
Ellen flinched. “Well. I wouldn’t call it stealing, exactly.”
“What does that mean?” Lucy asked. “Did you or didn’t you?”
Ellen sighed a very tired sigh. “My mother had cancer. She was on Social Security, plus a pittance that she earns from her part-time job, and couldn’t afford her medicine. So yes, I borrowed a hundred dollars. But it was only until payday the following week, and I would never have done it if my mom didn’t need it. That job wasn’t worth killing someone over. You two are ridiculous and I have better things to do than standing around here talking to two obvious idiots.”
“It’s still stealing,” Lucy pointed out.
“Can you tell me where you were, right before you arrived at the church recreation hall?” I said it fast, hoping she would keep talking.
She looked at me and I could see the annoyance on her face. “I was volunteering at the animal shelter. Walking dogs. Then I took them back and brought the cookies my mom made for the bazaar. Happy?”
I nodded, and she turned around and headed back in the direction she had come from. When she was out of earshot, I asked Lucy, “Do you believe her?”
“I don’t know. I hate to admit it, but she seems pretty convincing. We need to find out if her mom really has cancer.”
“Unless she volunteers that information, I don’t know how you’ll find out,” I said. Ellen’s mom worked part time at a local mom and pop grocery store. I never shopped there because everything was over-priced and they didn’t carry much, anyway.
“Let’s go,” Lucy said and turned around, heading in the direction we had come from.
“Let’s go where?” I said, trotting to catch up to her.
“To talk to her mom.”
***
I swung the door open to Mom & Pop’s General Store and the scent of old tobacco hit me. Wow. It felt like nothing had changed in this place since 1979. The shelving was barely head high and was stocked with everything from candy to cleaners to canned goods. The lighting was dim and everything seemed to have a fine coat of dirt that was felt more than seen. It reminded me of something from a 70’s grade B movie. I wondered if some of these items were original from when the store first opened.
I spotted Ellen’s mom, Anne Marie Cauthy, behind the ancient cash register, ringing up a sale for an elderly man that may have been an original customer when the store opened. Anne Marie had been married seven times, and from the way she reached out and caressed the elderly gentleman’s hand, she was looking for number eight. The old man tilted his head back and laughed at something Anne Marie whispered to him and he turned to leave.
“Anne Marie, you’re such a kidder,” he said, and he chuckled as he shuffled out the door.
Lucy and I scooted up to the register and I could smell smoke on Anne Marie. Apparently, if she had had cancer, it hadn’t changed her chain-smoking ways.
“Anne Marie, how are you doing?” I asked. I had had many opportunities to strike up conversations with Anne Marie at the hairdressers. I could see her gray roots showing through the orange of her hair. She had always admired my red hair, but no matter what she did, Karen Prince a hairdresser nearly as old as Anne Marie, couldn’t get her gray hair to turn red.
She took a look at me, running her eyes from my head to my feet. Then she recognized me. “Oh hello, Allie, I’m fine. How are you?”
“I’m doing well. Say, I haven’t seen you at Cuts and Curls in what seems like forever, and then I ran into your daughter and she said you weren’t feeling well. I hope it’s nothing serious,” I said, putting on my “very concerned” face.
She opened her mouth to answer me and nearly collapsed with fit of coughing.
“Oh my,” I said and stepped closer and patted her on the back as she leaned over the counter to catch her breath. I was half expecting cigarette smoke to puff out of the back of h
er blouse as I patted her. The smell of smoke clung to her so.
Lucy raised an eyebrow at me and I gave her a tiny shrug of my shoulders.
Finally, Anne Marie recovered from the coughing fit. “Oh, sorry,” she said and hawked a wad of phlegm that almost had me gagging. I had to look away.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Ayuh, I’m fine,” she said and reached for a tissue from under the counter. “I have these fits sometimes.”
“Have you been feeling poorly?” I asked, still waiting on an answer. The skin on her face and hands were as wrinkled as a polyester pantsuit left in the bottom of the laundry basket.
“Oh sure. I had a bout of lung cancer a couple months ago, but the doctors fixed me right up,” she said and reached for a cigarette from a pack under the counter.
“Do you think you should be smoking that?” Lucy asked, staring at the cigarette in her hand.
“Oh, pshaw,” she said. “Doctor’s don’t know nothin’. I had some radiation. The doctor said they caught it in time. And I’m good as new. But, I tell ya, that radiation made me lose some hair, look,” she said, flipping her hair forward and leaning over. There was a bald spot about the size of a softball that she had worked at hiding by combing the rest of her hair over it. “Not much reason to go to the beauty shop these days.”
“Oh my,” I said. “Well, I’m certainly glad you’re doing better. But really Anne Marie, you might want to cut back on those cigarettes.”
She straightened up and flipped her hair over the bald spot. “Yeah, yeah. I gotta do a lot of things. So did you ladies come all the way over here just to check on me?”
“Yes, we did,” I said. “As soon as I heard it, we came right over.”
“Well, aren’t you two regular Mother Teresa’s?” she laughed a deep throated, froggy warble.
“Well, we try,” I said. I glanced over at Lucy. Ellen had been telling the truth.
We spent a few more minutes chit chatting with Anne Marie and then bought a bag of Doritos and a Mountain Dew and said our goodbyes. I was a little disappointed that Ellen was looking less like a suspect. Not that I would rule her out yet. We had more investigating to do.
Chapter Eight
I heard the front door open and my heart jumped. I wasn’t expecting anyone. I put a robe on and tiptoed down the hall. I could hear footsteps in the living room. Had I forgotten to lock the front door? I had just stepped out of the shower, and water trickled down my back and gave me the chills.
When I tiptoed to the corner of the hallway, I heard my daughter Jennifer say, “Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh,” I said, popping my head around the corner. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugged her shoulders. She was sitting on the sofa with her feet on the coffee table, her red hair in a messy bun. “It’s a holiday. Aren’t we supposed to do family things on holidays?”
“Um, well, it’s Halloween, which technically is a holiday. However, since your brother and you are no longer in grammar school, it isn’t really considered a family holiday anymore,” I said. I was suddenly feeling guilty about the fact that I was going out to dinner with Alec. Not a date, mind you, just dinner between friends as repayment for me bringing him lunch. At least, I think we were friends. Maybe this was dinner between acquaintances. But whatever. I had plans.
Jennifer sighed loudly. “We can make popcorn balls or something.”
“Well, as much as I would love to, and I really would love to, I have dinner plans,” I said and headed back toward my room.
“What?” she called after me. I heard her get up and trot after me. “With who? With Lucy? Can I come?”
“Uh, no. Not Lucy, and no you can’t come. Sorry.” I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly feeling a little odd about going out to dinner with Alec. He had called me after I got home from visiting Anne Marie. It was very last minute and was more proof that it wasn’t a real date. I hadn’t expected to have to explain it to anyone, and now it looked like I would have to.
“With who, then?” she asked and leaned against the doorframe to my bedroom.
I opened my closet door. “Oh, you wouldn’t know him.”
“Him? It’s a him? Try me. It’s a small town. I bet I know him,” she said suspiciously.
I glanced at her. Her mouth had formed a straight line and her eyes were on me. I hadn’t dated anyone since her father had died. Not that this was a date. But I didn’t know if she would get weird about it. “That detective that investigated Henry Hoffer’s murder.”
“What? The guy who wanted to put you in an orange jumpsuit, lock you up, and throw away the key forever? Isn’t that like fraternizing with the enemy?”
“He was just doing his job,” I said, and pulled out a fine knit black sweater. I didn’t want to dress too fancy and look like I was reading too much into this evening, but I wanted to wear something a little nicer than jeans and a t-shirt.
“Wait, you’re dating? Since when are you dating?” she asked, with her eyebrows all pointy with questioning. “And you’re dating a cop? Why haven’t you told me about this?”
“No,” I said and pulled out a nice pair of jeans that would look good with heels. “We’re just having dinner. I am definitely not dating. I made him lunch the other day, and he’s being kind and repaying me for that.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why are you going out tonight? You could stay here and make popcorn balls with me. There will be trick or treaters! What about the trick or treaters? They’ll be so disappointed and they’ll egg the house!”
I sighed. This was going about as well as I had expected. Jennifer was a little high strung and her first year away at college was taking a toll on her emotions. Thankfully she was only a forty-five minute drive from home, so at least if she ever had a full-blown meltdown, I wouldn’t have to drive far to get her.
“Honey, please don’t make more of this than there is,” I said, putting my clothes on and then slipping into the black pumps. “We’re more acquaintances than anything.”
“This isn’t fair,” she whined. At any moment, I was expecting her to stomp her feet and kick the doorframe.
“Honey, please,” I said sitting down at my makeup table. “I promise this isn’t anything more than two people eating dinner together. If I had known you would be here, I wouldn’t have made plans. We probably won’t even be out that late. You make some popcorn and we’ll make popcorn balls when I get back. You can hand out candy and keep the little goblins appeased. I bought four bags of snack size candy bars.”
She sighed. “Okay. As long as we make the popcorn balls when you get back.”
“You got it.”
Jennifer was my baby in more ways than one.
***
We had decided on seafood. What else was there in Maine? I sat across from Alec in a booth in the back of Stan’s Crab Shack, looking over our menus.
“See anything good?” he asked.
“I think I’m going to have the clam chowder. It’s always a winner,” I said. It was cold outside and I wondered how the little ones would fare out there. Thankfully, the wind wasn’t blowing.
“That sounds good. I may have some of that,” he said, still looking the menu over.
Stan’s made their own fresh buttermilk bread and served it with real butter and honey. It was the best part of eating here. I suddenly felt very self-conscious as we gave the waitress our order. I tucked my loose hair behind my ear and wished I had pulled it back with a barrette of some kind. This isn’t a date, I reminded myself.
“So, have you made any progress on Diana’s murder?” I asked when the waitress left.
He smiled at me and folded his hands on the table. “It’s early in the investigation yet. I spoke to Ellen Allen again, and she mentioned that you and Lucy had questioned her about the murder. She wondered if you both had part-time jobs with the police department.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You know, we just happened to run into her on the runn
ing trail and before I knew it, Lucy started asking her all kinds of questions.” It was kind of true. Lucy had freaked out on me and made accusations after promising me she would behave herself.
“I see,” he said, giving his head a little nod. “You know, Allie, it really isn’t a good idea to try to do the police’s job. We are talking about a murderer after all. You may make the wrong person angry.”
I sighed and looked down at my hands. I needed a manicure. “I know. But I kind of like this detective work. It’s not fair that you get to have all the fun,” I said looking back at him and giving him a big smile. I didn’t want to make him angry, but I wanted to find Diana’s killer. It wasn’t right that an innocent person had died.
“Please, Allie. Leave the detective work to the detective, will you?”
“Sure. I guess I can do that,” I said. I hoped I would be able to do that. But I couldn’t make any promises.
“You’re not going to leave it alone, are you?” he asked, looking at me very pointedly.
“Do you have any other suspects?” I asked.
He half-rolled his eyes at me. “I don’t have suspects. But I will be interviewing other people. I will probably interview her husband tomorrow. Are you going to let this investigation alone?”
“So, Alec, you never did tell me. How did you end up here in Sandy Harbor?” I found changing the subject to be an effective ploy to throw someone off course when talking about unpleasant subjects.
“Really? You’re going to try changing the subject? Did you really think that would work?” he asked.
“Why yes, yes I did,” I said. The waitress was back with our drinks and chowder and she gave me another excuse to avoid his question. Talk about perfect timing.
The chowder smelled delicious and the warm yeasty bread made my stomach growl. “I love this place,” I said to him as I picked up a slice of fresh baked bread from the breadbasket. It was thick and soft and made my mouth water.