by Kate Bell
Bob looked at Alec and made a face. “Do you know that I had to take my two daughters down to that filthy place to visit with their grandmother for Thanksgiving? We had to tell them Grandma was at a spa and couldn’t come home. I was mortified when they searched all of us! They searched my six-year-old!”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. Bob lived in another world if he thought he could tell his daughters that the county lockup was a spa.
He gasped. “How dare you!”
“Okay, I’m sorry your little girls had to go through that. I really am. But it’s not like grandma is innocent, and eventually you are going to have to tell them the truth.”
“It’s none of your business,” he hissed, and tried to get around the little old lady, but she had stopped what she was doing to listen to our conversation and was effectively blocking Bob’s intended departure route.
“Bob, is there any chance you know anything about what happened with Todd?” Alec asked.
Bob was doing a little side-to-side dance with the little elderly lady mirroring his movements. He made a sound in his throat and then turned back to Alec. “I have no idea. But I’ll tell you one thing. There will be more people glad he’s gone than sorry about it.”
“Really?” Alec asked, eyebrows raised.
“I don’t believe it. Todd was an outstanding member of the community,” I said, hoping he would spill the beans on the situation.
“I don’t care what you believe, Allie McSwain. That Todd was a nightmare to work for.”
“Really? Because I think he was a saint. A saint slain in the prime of his life. What will Sandy Harbor do without him? He was a leader in this town. We’ve lost two leaders in two months’ time. I, for one, am outraged.” I was laying it on thick in hopes of getting him to talk.
Bob’s face turned two shades of red. “Todd was a nasty, hostile jerk. Oh sure, he put on another face for everyone around town to see, but those of us that worked for him, knew better. He was rude, and callous, and, and, rude!”
I tried not to look over at Alec. I knew he was taking this all in and I half-expected to see him whip out his trusty pen and notebook any minute.
“That’s interesting. Because I heard he was the biggest giver at the Halloween bazaar. He loved those unfortunate children from the poor side of town and wanted them all to have nice winter coats,” I said, standing up and trying to get a feel for the new pair of shoes.
Bob sighed loudly as the little elderly lady decided to move on, slowly picking up her walker and placing it four inches out in front of her, and then shuffling two steps forward.
“Look, you can believe what you want. But his last words to us when we left work on Wednesday were, I hope the riff-raff from the south side of town don’t show up for free pie at the Turkey Trot, because I can hardly stand the smell of them.”
I stared at him. I had to admit that that was rude.
“Everyone at work hated him,” he said quietly.
“Everyone?” I asked.
He nodded his head furiously.
“It sounds like you had some real issues with Todd,” Alec said.
Bob’s balding head whipped around to look at Alec. “What? No, I didn’t. I mean, sure, he was a pain, but what boss isn’t? Look, I may not have cared much for the way he did things, but I did not have a beef with him.”
“Do you know who might have?” Alec asked.
Bob shook his head. “No. I don’t have any idea. Look, I don’t want any trouble. I just need to pick up some shoes for my kids. I don’t know anything about this murder.”
“Don’t get excited, Bob. I’m just asking a question. If you can think of anything later, I’m sure you’ll let me know, right?” Alec said, very calm and matter-of-factly.
“Of course I will,” he agreed. “I’m going to get going now.”
“See you around,” I said to his back as he made a hasty exit.
Alec sat on the floor to try on another pair of shoes he had picked up, and I sat next to him.
“What do you make of that?” I whispered.
“I’m not sure just yet,” he said, lacing up the red and white shoe. “I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open and see where it leads.”
“I say we go down and interview everyone at the bank. See if their stories line up with Bob’s.”
Alec cleared his throat and put the other shoe on. “You mean I. I’ll look into their stories.”
“Okay, but you know every ace detective needs a sidekick and I’m your woman.”
Alec snorted. “I haven’t needed one before now.”
“You know, yesterday when I took Mr. Spellman a cup of coffee, I had a little conversation with him. Not that he had much to say, mind you. But it seemed like there was something there. Like he was trying to tell me something with his eyes, and whatever it was, it scared him,” I said, ignoring his comment.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah. I like red. It’s very sexy,” I said, looking at his shoes.
“And when you’re running down the trail, sweating and stinking, sexy is important,” he said.
“You’re darned right!” I assured him.
He got up and went to look for another pair of shoes.
Todd wasn’t what he seemed, I thought.
Chapter Six
It was late afternoon on Black Friday, and I had shopped until I nearly dropped, and then shopped some more. Alec had left me off at home an hour earlier. I should have stayed home in front of the warm fire, but I was on the go again, and the cold air was making my cheeks hurt. I pulled up my scarf to cover the lower half of my face and watched the ground carefully as I walked. The snow had melted, but the ground was good and frozen. I held two cups of coffee in a cardboard drink carrier and scanned the area for Alec.
I could see something moving in the nearby thicket and I stopped. Was that a deer? I took another step forward and a dry twig snapped under my foot. There was a flash from behind the thicket and Alec jumped out from behind it with his gun drawn. I screamed.
“Allie!” he shouted. “What are you doing here?”
I stopped screaming at him and tried to catch my breath. “I brought you coffee,” I said weakly, holding up the drink carrier and smiling behind my scarf. My nose was running, and I sniffed.
“Seriously, Allie? You could have gotten yourself killed!” Alec was frowning at me and I could see the hard set of his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and held the drink carrier out to him again.
“Why are you sneaking up behind me like that?” he asked, moving toward me.
“I didn’t want to startle you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, that worked out just fine.”
“Sorry,” I repeated. I had thought I could assist him, but I didn’t want to ask him first if it was okay. He always seemed to resist my assistance for some reason, even though I thought I was a pretty big help to him.
He blew air out through his mouth. “Come on, Allie, you shouldn’t be out here. Do you know how I would have felt if I had shot you?”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have come. But now I’m here and I brought coffee,” I said brightly. The man just needed to focus on the fact that I had brought him coffee and he would lighten up, I was sure of it.
“Thanks,” he said reluctantly and took a cup from me. He wore a long trench coat that I thought only television detectives wore. He had black boots on and earmuffs and looked like a city slicker taking his first jaunt into the woods. I tried to suppress a smile.
“I have cream and sugar,” I said, pulling out packets from my coat pocket.
He took some of them and poured both cream and sugar into his coffee. “Thanks again.” He sounded a little reluctant to say it, but he was warming up to my gift of coffee.
“You’re welcome,” I said. “So have you found out anything new about the case?”
“There’s not a lot to go on. I found some spent casings, but not much else. They climbed up into this
deer stand to shoot from,” he said motioning toward a deer stand. It was odd, I hadn’t noticed one being here before.
“Well maybe if I help you, we can find something new,” I said, setting the drink carrier on the ground. I walked over to the deer stand and stood beneath it. We were deeper into the woods than where we had been when we turned around when Todd was shot the day before, but it wasn’t that deep. “Isn’t it weird that there’s a deer stand this close to the Rec Center? I mean, sure, it’s in the woods, but you would have to expect people to be in the area at any time. It’s not a good place to be shooting a gun.”
“Yeah, it’s odd all right. The lumber used is old, but if you take a look, the nails used on it are clean. No rust. They haven’t been out here in the weather long.”
The stand was very rudimentary with a platform and a crude makeshift ladder attached. Some deer stands were fancier than this. I’d seen some that were fully enclosed with walls and a roof, and a separate platform to stand on.
“I’m not a hunter, but I wouldn’t want to have to spend a lot of time on this thing in inclement weather,” I said.
“Exactly. It appears to be very temporary and crudely put together.”
“But if you knew when your deer was going to come by, say, at a scheduled time, you would only have to spend so much time on it,” I surmised.
“Come on, let me show you something,” he said. He went over to the deer stand, put his coffee cup on the ground and climbed up to the platform. He looked down at me. “Come on.”
“Me? That doesn’t look safe,” I said, shaking my head.
“You wanted to play detective,” he said. “Come on up.”
I moved over to the ladder and put my coffee on the ground, careful to find a stable place for it. Coffee was precious, and I didn’t want to spill it.
I put my gloved hands on the crude ladder and pulled myself up to the first rung. The stand shuddered with my weight. I looked up at Alec. “Is it going to hold the both of us?”
“It should. Come on up,” he said, squatting down on the platform.
“Should? Sure doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy,” I said, and moved up to the next rung. The ladder shuddered again and I closed my eyes and pulled myself up the rest of the way. Climbing this thing was like pulling off a Band-Aid. Better to do it all at once.
“See now, that’s not so bad, is it?” he teased as I made it to the platform.
“Well, it kind of is,” I said, pulling myself up onto the platform. The stand shuddered again. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I thought it listed to the side a little.
“Look,” he said, pointing out to the woods.
“Oh, wow,” I said. We had the perfect view of what looked like the exact spot that Todd Spellman had fallen. There was an opening in the trees that didn’t look natural.
“Yeah. Todd had an enemy.”
“If Bob is to be believed, it could be any one of his employees,” I said. A breeze stirred, and I heard the stand creak. “Okay, time to get down.” I moved the couple of steps back to the ladder and started down.
Alec chuckled. “Don’t be a ‘fraidy cat,” he said.
“I will be a ‘fraidy cat if I want to,” I said, feeling my feet hit solid ground. I picked up my coffee and watched him climb down.
“Come on,” he said and led the way through the woods.
“What kind of gun do you think it was?” I asked.
“We won’t know exactly until we get the bullet from Todd Spellman’s body examined by forensics, but it was a long gun of some type. Fitted with a silencer which is why we didn’t hear it,” he said as we walked.
“I heard a whistling noise. It was creepy, knowing what it was now. I thought silencers were against the law?” I asked.
“Only in some states. Not Maine. They do have to fill out extra paperwork at the time of purchase, but honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was stolen.”
We walked a ways in the woods.
“Is this—” I asked when he stopped.
“Yes, this is where he was shot. See the trees? The killer cut off some branches so they had a clear view,” he said, pointing.
I looked at the ground and was relieved I didn’t see blood. “I would hate to know what they would have done if he had been in a pack of runners at the time he passed this spot,” I said, shuddering.
“Since they didn’t hesitate to fire at us, I think we both know what they would have done,” he said. “The deer stand is due to be dismantled later today and brought to the lab in Bangor. It was already dusted for prints, but there wasn’t anything. Maybe the lab will have better luck finding something.”
“Do you think the killer might have come back to the area and tampered with anything?” I asked. I had easily gotten past the crime scene tape.
“George spent last night in his squad car right out here in the middle of things. I don’t think they could have. Just about everything has been removed and photographed at this point. I just wanted to go over things again, to be sure nothing was overlooked. I would have caught you entering the area had I been expecting you to be so nosy. Of course, I don’t know why I didn’t expect you to be.”
I smiled at him. “You know me.”
“That I do. As soon as Yancey and George return to get the deer stand, I’ll go back to the office. Tomorrow morning I’m going to have a chat with Todd’s family. They were initially questioned by Sam Bailey, but he didn’t seem to think there was much there. Just a grieving family,” he said.
“How did Mr. Spellman take it?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Sam seems to think he might have been given a sedative of some sort. Probably due to the stress of it all. He was really out of it. Maybe he’ll be more alert when I go over there.”
“Take me with you?” I asked hopefully.
He sighed. “Well, if I don’t, what are the chances you’ll sneak up on me from behind while I’m there?”
“Pretty good,” I said, nodding.
“I figured as much.”
Chapter Seven
“You know the drill, right?” Alec asked as he turned down Taylor Street.
“Yes, keep my mouth shut and just observe,” I answered. The window of his SUV kept fogging up from the cold, even with the defroster running full blast. I leaned forward and wiped my sleeve over the front of the windshield so I could see.
“You know I’m on to you, right?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked, turning toward him.
“’Keep your mouth shut and observe’ is your code for ‘ask a lot of questions and make accusations.’ I’m catching on to you,” he said with a small smile on his lips.
I grinned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, turning to look forward. The City was hanging Christmas lights. There would be a Christmas parade on the first of December, always at night, under the Christmas lights. An old familiar ache tugged at my heart. My kids had lived for that parade when they were small, and no matter how cold it was, my husband Thaddeus bundled them up and we went to watch all the homemade floats, marching bands, and horse riders. There was nothing like Christmas in a small town.
“All right, plead the fifth if you must. But I’m not buying it.”
I giggled. He hadn’t put up much of a fight when I told him I wanted to go with him to speak to Todd’s family, and I was glad of that. I hated when I had to beg.
He pulled up to the Spellman’s house and I could see a light on inside. It was just after eight and I had wondered if anyone would be up and about yet.
We got out of the car and headed to the front door.
A tall woman with graying hair and bifocal glasses opened the door and peered at us for a moment before speaking. I could smell coffee brewing from inside the open door. “Yes?” she said. I guessed she must be close to sixty.
“Good morning, ma’am, I’m detective Alec Blanchard and this is Allie McSwain. May we have a few minutes of your time?”
She took a s
tep back, and hesitated, then looked over her shoulder. Her face was free of wrinkles and I decided I was wrong about my first guess on her age. The gray hair and bifocals aged her, but in a better light, she looked to be in her mid to late forties.
She turned back to us. “Yes, of course,” she said and held the door open. “We’re just getting up and around. I’m Connie Sutter, Todd’s sister.”
“Thank you,” Alec said, and we followed her as she headed down the hall.
She led us into a formal living room that looked like it had been decorated in the early nineties and had not been sat in since.
“Let me get my husband. Would you like coffee?” she asked over her shoulder as she headed out the door we had come through.
“Yes, please,” I said before Alec could answer. Coffee would allow us a few extra minutes of time here. I was curious about the life of Todd Spellman. He was the kind of person that nearly everyone in town knew because of his philanthropic endeavors. But after what Bob had said, I wondered if anyone really knew him at all.
A balding middle-aged man entered the room. He stopped, straightened his glasses and gave us a pinched smile. “Hello, I’m Terrence Sutter, Todd’s brother-in-law,” he said, extending a hand to Alec and then to me.
Alec introduced us. “I’m sorry for your loss. We understand it’s a difficult time for your whole family, but we have a few questions.”
“Yes, of course,” he said, and came over to sit on the sofa across from us. “We’ve been expecting you.”
“How is Mr. Spellman?” I asked. I knew he had to be devastated.
“Dad’s doing as well as can be expected. The doctor gave him something to settle his nerves. He had some minor sleep issues before this happened, and he really needed a little help after being told the news.”
“Of course,” I said. I didn’t blame Mr. Spellman one bit. I had needed to rely on medication for a month or longer after Thaddeus died.
“Mr. Sutter, do you know if there was anyone in your brother-in-law’s life that wanted to harm him?” Alec asked.