by Tonya Kappes
“You are a listener. When I mentioned that I needed to plow for campground’s gator for snow removal, you found me one.” I was about to give another example, but Hank had a different idea.
He put his finger on my lips. His large hand took my face and held it gently, forcing me to look at him. There was a deep softness to his green eyes that I’d never seen before.
“You will always be safe with me. I will always protect you.” He leaned in and his lips touched my lips like a soft whisper.
He pulled back, leaving me standing there with my lips puckered and ready for more. When I opened my eyes, he was grinning.
“I had to get that out of the way or it would have been on my mind all night.” He reached down and grabbed my hand, leaving me breathless and speechless. “Looks like I did it again. I left Mae West speechless for the second time ever.”
“Stop it.” I teasingly smacked his arm and let him lead me into the barn.
If you’d told me that an old farm barn could be romantic, I would have laughed and told you about some really neat place in New York City that’d charm the pants right off you when you stepped inside, but this old barn was so charming. I had not been to a nice restaurant in almost a year now, so maybe that’s the reason I immediately fell in love with the place.
Long gone were the old stalls , hay lofts, and dirt floor. The inside was completely open with exposed wood beams. I wasn’t sure if they were original to the barn, but if they weren’t, someone had gone to great lengths to make it look like they were. Each wood beam had strands of small, round light bulbs that were turned down just enough so you could see what you were eating but made you feel as if you were dining in moonlight.
Tables draped with white linen tablecloths were scattered around with a romantic red candle in a lantern in the middle of each. Some of the tables had two chairs while others had four.
Along the back of the barn was a long bar with floor to ceiling shelves of every Kentucky bourbon and wine you could imagine. There was no mistaken the pride the Red Barn took in their spirits.
To the right of the bar, there was just enough space for a band. Tonight the band was playing some jazz, which I loved.
“Reservation for Sharp.” Hank held my hand so tight as he proudly said his name.
“Please follow me.” The hostess grabbed two menus and walked ahead of us. “Can I start you off with some wine?”
Hank rattled off something that I wasn’t familiar with. Really, I wasn’t familiar with much alcohol other than a beer every now and again.
“What do you think?” He asked a very good question that I wasn’t sure how to answer.
“What do I think?” I needed clarification. Was he asking about the kiss or the restaurant?
Both were amazing.
“About the atmosphere?” He suddenly looked very amused. “Wait. You were thinking I was asking about me kissing you.”
“No, I wasn’t.” I tried to play it off.
“Oh, Mae West. Yes, you were.” He gave me a friendly smile, bantering back and forth with me in a relaxed manner. “I’m getting so good at reading you now. I was a little off when you first moved here, but you aren’t as transparent as you want to be.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tossed some curls behind my shoulder. Had I really lost the touch of not showing all my cards, I wondered.
He laughed triumphantly.
“Stop it.” I folded my arms in front of me. “Stop making fun of me.”
“I’m not. You’re cute.” Those two words sounded so odd coming from him.
Cute and the six-foot, dark haired, green eyed and just enough muscles under his shirt to make him hunky didn’t seem to go together, but he pulled it off.
“Cute?” My jaw dropped.
“Gorgeous and I’d like to revisit that kiss later. I just knew I couldn’t sit across from you like this if it were still burning in my head what it would be like to kiss you. And I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint.”
The waitress had come over with the bottle of wine Hank had mentioned to the hostess and did the whole swirl test. It was something my ex would do at the restaurants we visited in the city before the scan he pulled over everyone’s eyes imploded and blew up my life.
Hank gave her the nod and she poured two glasses of the pinot he’d picked out.
“To a real first date of many.” Hank lifted his glass in air, starting the first toast of many to come in our future.
Both of us had gotten the steak special. The conversation flowed with ease like we’d known each other for a longer period of time. I got to know about his family and how they still lived in Normal. He’d even slipped and said that he couldn’t wait for me to meet them, which made me believe this was more than a onetime gig. The way things were going, that sounded good to me. I knew I wasn’t ready to make a big commitment, but spending time with Hank was a responsible way for me to have companionship and take baby steps in that direction.
“My mom loves Ginger.” He lit up when he talked about one of Fifi’s puppies that he’d given to his mother as a gift. “Ginger goes everywhere with her.”
“I love that. What does her fur look like?” I had wondered if the mix of poodle and pug did any sort of damage to the little ones. Since I had given the other puppies to tourists after I’d made them fill out adoption paperwork with the local SPCA and undergo a background check, I’d not kept in touch with them.
“She looks like a poodle, but she has tan fur, not white. What amazed my mom the most was that she could walk into any gun shop and walk out with a gun in fifteen minutes while it took five weeks to adopt a dog.” He shook his head. “As someone who carries as an officer of the law, I agree with my mom.”
“I’m so glad the ASPCA has that process because I was so worried about the safety of Fifi’s babies.” I wanted to keep them all, but there was no way I could have them in the camper. Fifi was already high maintenance, and I couldn’t imagine having several more like her.
While the band played, we both sat back with our wine and listened with ease, never once trying to make conversation or force it along. It was nice to be able to go out and enjoy another adult. Especially a good looking one that did have good kissing skills, though I wouldn’t admit that at this point.
“I hate to see the night end.” Hank hinted around to extending it once we got back to the camper.
“That’s strange,” I noted when we drove past the library. “Abby is still there and it’s after ten.”
Nothing in Normal was open past eight or nine p.m. Most businesses closed around six p.m. and the library was one of them.
“That is odd.” Hank pulled the truck over to the curb right behind the rental I’d seen barreling out of the campground that Nadine White had been driving.
“Oh, maybe she and Nadine have bonded. I’m sure they’re gabbing over books.” I shrugged Hank’s concern off.
“I’d rather go check it out. That Nadine sure was upset about people finding out she was here.” He threw the gear shift into park. “You wait right here.”
As if.
I jumped out of the truck as soon as I saw him walk around the front of it.
“Really?” His brow lifted with amused contempt.
“She’s my friend. I want to make sure she’s OK.” Not that I thought anything was wrong, but I did kinda wanted Nadine to see that I was with Hank because I seen the look on her face at the Normal Diner this morning when she was sitting across from him.
Hank left the southern gentleman from earlier at the restaurant behind as he bolted up the front steps of the library. It was a very old Victorian house that’d been converted into the town’s library. There were concrete steps leading up to a wraparound porch where Abby had placed rockers for readers’ enjoyment. She even left them out in the winter along with a basket next to each one with a quilt made by women in the Women’s Club of Normal.
Hank opened the front door.
“That’s we
ird too.” I bit on my lip as a tiny bit of worry settled into my gut. “I’ve been here before when she’s putting newly cataloged books on the shelf after hours and she always locks the door.”
The loudest scream I’ve ever heard came from the office.
I stood there in slow motion as I watched Hank draw the gun from the hidden holster under his shirt. I shoved past him, running towards the office. It was as though my feet had a mind of their own.
“Abby?” I questioned when I got to the door and noticed she was standing over Nadine White on the floor. “Did you scream?”
I could feel Hank behind me.
“Abby?” Hank called.
She stood with her back to us. My eyes drew down her body until they saw the bloody knife dangling from her fingers.
She turned around. Her eyes hollow.
“She’s dead,” she replied in a small frightened voice.
Nine
“Let me have the knife,” Hank talked gingerly to Abby.
She looked down at her hand as though she didn’t realize she was holding a knife. She blinked a few times, like she was trying to bring herself back to reality. Like a robot, she lifted her hand in the air.
Hank grabbed the handkerchief out of his pocket and took the knife. As I watched, I knew he was doing his detective thing by taking the knife so as not to disturb the fingerprints. After I’d helped him a few other cases in the past months, I’d watched more crime television than one woman should in a lifetime.
“Why don’t you just come out here and sit.” Hank guided her out of the office and completely ignored me like I wasn’t even there.
Nadine White’s eyes were open. Her clothes were tidy and neat, but the blood was still gushing from the side of her neck where there appeared to be a stab wound to her carotid artery. I bent down next to her, careful to barely breathe and not touch a thing, to see if there were any signs of life. Her chest was still. I put my hand over top her mouth and nose and there was nothing coming out.
“What are you doing! Get back!” Hank had turned into the Hank I didn’t like.
“I was just seeing if she was alive,” I tried to explain myself, pushing off my knees to stand.
“Listen, I know you’re trying to help here, but I’ve called backup and the best thing you can do is go out there and talk to Abby. Find out what the heck happened here.” He ran his large hand through his hair before he bent down and used his hands to feel for a pulse.
There was an icy twist around my heart with the sudden realization that Hank thought Abby had done this.
“Wait, you don’t think Abby had anything to do with this?” I asked him like he was out of his mind.
“Do you see anyone else?” He asked me sarcastically. “She had the knife. She was stunned.”
“She’s in shock,” I reminded him as I left the room before I took the knife and did a number on him myself.
Abby was sitting in the swivel chair at the reference desk where she sat most days to welcome library patrons. Her face was pasty white. Her eyes stared blankly in front of her. Her hands were shaking.
“Abby,” I whispered her name to let her know I was coming up behind her. “Abby.”
When I touched her she flinched, jerking around with her hands fisted in front of her.
“It’s okay.” There wasn’t life in her eyes. “It’s me, Mae,” I reminded her who I was because she didn’t look at me. She looked through me, so I wasn’t sure if she was seeing me even though I was the only one standing right there.
With the same look on her face, she put her shaky hands back down in her lap. Her chest lifted up and down.
“Abby.” I squatted down next to her. “Do you know me?”
Slowly she nodded, her eyes slide over to look into mine. She blinked a few times, finally focusing on me. Her mouth gaped open. Her breath heaved in and out.
“Mae,” she gasped in desperation. “Nadine is dead.”
“Yes, honey.” I ran a hand down her hair. “I know.”
“She. . .she. . .,” her voice trembled. Her head turned, eyes glazed over facing the library, away from me. “She was lying there.”
“Lying there?” My inner voice alerted my brain to ask more questions, even in Abby’s fragile state. “Abby, what do you mean by she was lying there.”
“She was lying there. Her eyes open. The knife. . .” Her nostrils flared up and down, her chest heaved up and down as the sound of her breath went in and out of her nose. “Oh my God, Mae,” she cried out, her eyes filled with tears. “Nadine is dead.” She buried her head in her hands.
I stood back up and bent over her, wrapping my arms around her while she sobbed. A couple police officers rushed past us and filed into the office where Hank was.
“Abby. I’m going to need you to help me out here.” I pulled away when I felt her breathing return to normal. “What happened between you and Nadine?”
“What do you mean?” She gulped for breath.
“Did you get into another argument?” I asked. “Did you fight?”
“What are you talking about?” Her brows furrowed. She was obviously in shock and not in her right mind.
“You do understand that Nadine White was found dead in your office with you standing over her with a knife,” I looked her square in the eyes.
“Yes. I found her there.” She nodded, searching my face.
“You found her in your office and you fought with her?” I asked, trying to get to what happened or jar her memory.
“She was dead. I pulled the knife out of her neck,” she cried out, sobbing again.
“Wait.” I bent back down and put my hand on her leg. “Are you telling me that you found her in your office already stabbed?”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“This changes everything,” I muttered.
“Do you think I stabbed her?” Abby looked at me like I had five heads. “Mae?”
“I’ve got to get you out of here.” I glanced around to see who was near us. “Abby, I need you to focus more than ever on me.” I held her face and made her look into my eyes. “Hank and I found you standing over Nadine’s body, holding the knife. It looks like you killed her, and Hank is going to think that.”
“I didn’t.” She jerked her head around, looking behind her. “Where is he? I’ll tell him.”
“You’re going to have to get it together.” I glanced over at the library’s complimentary Keurig station. “You sit right here, and I’ll grab us a cup of coffee.”
“I don’t want a coffee.” Abby shrugged.
“I’m going to need you to drink a coffee to get you out of this fog. We. . . I need to know exactly what happened tonight.” I didn’t leave her any room for arguing with me. She didn’t realize the severity of the situation and what it looked like for her.
The Keurig rumbled to life when I put the pod in the holder and pressed the largest option available.
“Keep an eye on her.” I overheard one of the officers say to another one. “She’s the killer. From what Hank said, he’s not had a minute to ask her anything.”
Killer? The word knotted in my gut. Abby couldn’t kill anyone.
I doctored up my coffee with creamer and slowly stirred it in, more than usual, so I could hear more conversations between the two cops.
“Why’d she kill her? Do we know?” One of them asked.
“Fan turned psycho. I’ve seen it all now.” The other’s voice dripped with a hint of laughter.
I grabbed my cup and moseyed over to Abby just in case I heard anything else, but I didn’t. The rest of officers were standing watching Colonel Holz push the church cart through the automatic front doors of the library.
Colonel Holz was the county coroner. I’d yet to meet him properly and there was no better time than now, especially since I was going to have to figure out, with his help no doubt, who really killed Nadine White.
“Hi, Dr. Holz.” I walked next to the church cart. “I’m Mae West and Nadine White had rent
ed a camper in my campground. I sure hate that she’s dead. What do you think I should tell the family?”
I pulled that question out of nowhere, a little proud of myself. There was a place on the rental form that asked for next of kin. Since we were a hiking and camping community, there were more than just hiking accidents, there were also critters to deal with, including dangerous ones. I liked to have the emergency contact or next of kin on the form, so we had a way of getting in touch with someone.
“Well, you’re gonna have to take that up with Detective Sharp. I’m not sure what’s going on until I take a look at the body. I suggest you let Detective Sharp call the family.” The Colonel wasn’t budging.
Abby’s face flushed white again when she noticed the coroner. She started to sob all over again. It didn’t go unnoticed that the two officers next to the Keurig station nudged each other.
“Abby.” I rushed over to her with the coffee. I held it out to her. She waved it off. “Listen, I know you’re in shock.”
“Outta the way!” The boisterous voice pushed through the officers. When they parted, Queenie was leading The Laundry Club gals straight over to us. “What are you lookin’ at, Violet Rhinehammer?” Queenie stopped and looked at a woman who’d come in right before them. “You better sweep your own back porch before sweeping somebody else’s.” Queenie pointed to the notebook Violet had in her hand. “You can quote me too.”
After Queenie said that, I recognized Violet as the new reporter for the local newspaper. There’d been some gossip down at The Laundry Club about her, but I reckoned it was all talk and Queenie was just flapping her gums. I wished I’d listened a little more closely now.
From what I knew about reporters from the crime shows, they could be valuable with information and with ways on how they got that information.
“What is the blue blazes is going on here?” Dottie asked, assessing Abby.
Betts Hager had already rushed to Abby’s side and was talking to her like a good pastor’s wife. She had a natural ability to comfort and soothe. I wanted to get to the bottom of it.