by Joan Rylen
They all walked into the ER, and the receptionist smiled at Larson. “You keeping my husband out of trouble?”
“That’s a tough job, Betsy, you know that,” Larson replied.
Lucy asked to see Kate, and Betsy gave them her ER room number and buzzed them back. Vivian and Lucy went to check on her while Pierre and Larson stayed in the waiting area.
The door to Kate’s room was cracked so Vivian knocked as she gently pushed. “How’s our Little Plum?”
Kate’s color had returned, as had her pregnancy glow. She was wearing a hospital gown and was strapped to a fetal monitor that displayed a constant baby heartbeat. “The baby’s just fine. The ER doc called the on-call obstetrician. He did an ultrasound and checked me from head to toe, literally. We’re good.” She tapped her tummy and smiled.
“Thank goodness,” Vivian said and gave her a long hug. “I was so worried.”
“Me, too,” Lucy said and got her own hug.
“I called Shaun and told him my phone is kaput for now,” Kate said. “I told him we’d probably get new ones tomorrow. I’ve got to call him back tonight, though.”
Wendy sat in a chair beside the bed. “While the doctor was with Kate, I checked with the lady up front about Nicole, and she said they moved her to a room.”
“That was pretty much what we thought would happen,” Vivian said. “Larson is our ride tonight, and he said he’d swing by and check on her while we’re here.”
Another knock sounded at the door, and a nurse walked in with a clipboard. She handed it to Kate. “Looks like you’re good to go, if you can please sign here. The doctor has provided instructions for care.”
“What kind of instructions?” Vivian asked.
“He was afraid I might have some stiffness from the airbag. He gave me some meds, just in case. I’m okay, Viv.”
“You be safe out there,” the nurse said, removing the fetal monitoring wires and sticky patches from Kate’s belly.
Kate scratched her signature and handed the clipboard back. “Thank you.” She threw the covers off and looked at her wet clothes in a bag. “I think I’ll just walk out in my gown.”
Vivian looked at Kate, then at her waterlogged self. “Can I get one of those?”
The ER nurse brought Kate an extra hospital gown so she could wear it backwards and amply cover her derriere. She also brought a gown for Wendy, Lucy and Vivian since they were still in their wet clothes.
“I don’t think Larson wants my butt touching his seat,” Kate said as she tied the strings in front and then slipped on her soggy Clark’s.
It was all Vivian could do to keep from laughing at their appearance. Four girls in hospital gowns. She wrapped a hospital blanket around Kate as they walked to the lobby. “It’s chilly out, you’re going to need this.”
Pierre waited for them by the door and did a double take but didn’t say anything.
He probably wishes he had a gown, Vivian thought.
“Larson’s outside.” Pierre led the way as the automatic doors opened. Larson’s truck was pulled into the emergency drop-off.
“How are we all going to fit in there?” Kate asked.
“It’s roomy,” Vivian said and bumped Lucy with her hip. “Besides, Lucy can sit on Pierre’s lap.”
Larson held the door for them and they piled in. “How’s the baby?” he asked Kate.
She tucked the blanket around her and smiled. “Perfect. Did I miss anything at the accident site?”
“Not really,” he said and pulled onto the road. He drove back the way they’d come and slowed as he approached the accident scene. The sheriff deputies were gone and the flares had burned out, but three construction barrels sat across the broken guardrail.
“Good thing my insurance deductible was met, since I couldn’t have given the hospital a payment,” Kate said. “I didn’t even think about that when I called Shaun.”
Larson handed her his phone and called her husband. As expected, he had freaked out about the accident but was calmer now knowing she and Little Plum were fine.
Kate handed the phone back to Larson and looked over her shoulder at the girls and Pierre in the back. “He was about to book the next flight here. I had to work hard to reassure him I’m fine and that we won’t have any more issues.”
Vivian patted her arm. “We’ll be extra careful.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Kate continued. “Brandon has that big old SUV. Could it have been him who rammed us?”
“I don’t think so,” Wendy said. “The truck or SUV that hit us looked like an old Ford and had an aftermarket exhaust, which makes it louder than typical.”
“I’m impressed a girl notices these things,” Larson said, turning down the drive to Turlington Farms. “That is something you definitely need to tell Stokola.”
“Way to be sexist, Larson,” Wendy said, “but so you know, I have Flowmaster exhaust on my Trans Am. Gives it the growl, so I just notice these things. If I heard that truck again, I’d know it.”
“I’m going to point out every old Ford we see,” Pierre said. “I’d like to crush whoever ran us off the road tonight.”
Larson pulled to a stop at the B&B and ran around to the passenger door to help Kate out. He walked them to the porch and gave Vivian a hug goodbye. “I’ll check on you tomorrow. Get some rest.”
Pierre walked up the front steps with the briefcase. He clicked it open. “This thing wasn’t completely waterproof. The papers are wet. What do you want to do with this tonight?”
“We can’t leave it out here,” Wendy said in a low voice. “We’ll spread the files out in the bathtub or something, so the pages can dry.”
Vivian reached for the door, but before she could turn the handle, it opened. Tracy stood in the entry in a bathrobe and motioned them in. She took in Kate’s blanket and the hospital gown brigade. “My goodness, what happened to you? We were worried with it being so late.”
“We had an unexpected dip in the lake tonight,” Vivian said.
Tracy shut the front door and turned around. “Where’s your car?”
Vivian fell onto the sofa, exhausted. “In the lake.”
40
Day 5
Vivian awoke, sheets tangled around her and three pillows thrown off the bed. What the hell? Then she remembered the scattered images and funky dreams she’d had. She got out of bed and stepped around the files, making her way to the bathroom.
Wendy was at the sink brushing her teeth. “Mornin’.”
“Mornin’,” Vivian mumbled and picked up her own toothbrush. Her mouth was unusually dry so she cupped her hands under the faucet and drank some water before brushing. “How’s Kate?” she asked.
“She got up, went downstairs for a bite, then got back in bed. I think she’s still pretty tired.”
“Yesterday was a really long day, and a bit on the treacherous side,” Vivian said, squeezing toothpaste onto her brush, “but today will be better.”
“It has to be. Today we will not wind up in, or on, the lake!” Wendy dried her face on a towel.
Vivian put her toothbrush into its holder and threw it in her toiletry bag. “We need to get new cellphones, but we can’t do that until we get a new rent car. Maybe we can look through the files this morning, while Kate’s asleep? Have you heard from Lucy or Pierre?”
“Negative, not one peep. Let me run down for a cup of coffee first. Be back in a jiff. Want anything?”
“I’m good, thanks.” Vivian threw on jeans and a sweater, went back to the bathroom and put some mousse in her curls, then brushed her face with powder. Since Wendy wasn’t back, she decided to go ahead and keep going with the makeup, something she usually didn’t do. Ten minutes later she was done.
Wendy must have decided to eat breakfast, Vivian thought as she snapped open Nicole’s chrome briefcase. She pulled out the top file: Brandon Holt. She perused Grandpa’s notes, his handwriting now more familiar and easier to decipher, and took her time reading about Mary Beth’s deat
h.
Warm summer day, not a cloud in the sky. Brandon had been at work, but on his lunch break. No sign of forced entry to the house and no indication that anyone else had been there. Mary Beth had been known to go swimming in the lake by herself. Police didn’t find any foul play, and the coroner didn’t find anything suspicious. Her death was ruled an accident.
Vivian closed the file as Wendy opened the bedroom door. “Did you decide to get something to go with that coffee?”
Wendy quietly shut the door. “I went downstairs and didn’t see Tracy or Brandon, so I went out back and tried to get in the garage. I wanted to see what kind of cars they have.”
Vivian shifted on the bed, intrigued. “What’d you find?”
“Nada. The garage was locked up tighter than Queen Elizabeth’s jewelry. Plus, the window in the side door was covered with a black curtain, so I couldn’t see anything. I tried a few different ways to get in, but got nowhere.”
“I hope they didn’t see you sneaking around,” Vivian said as she set Brandon’s file on the bed. “Brandon could have been involved in Mary Beth’s drowning. I remember passing the hardware store in town and it’s not far from the house. He could’ve come home on his lunch break and done something. The neighbors are far enough away that he could’ve been here without being seen.”
“I didn’t see them around anywhere.” Wendy took a sip of coffee. “In Kate’s dream, Mary Beth’s muscles froze up. What would cause that? Could Brandon have given her poison or something?”
Vivian tapped the closed file. “Good question. I don’t know enough about poisons to know what would cause that. Know anyone we could ask?”
“Who’s been poisoned?” Lucy asked as she stepped into the room. “I thought I’d come find out what was on tap for the day.”
“Good morning there, little Miss ‘Found Yourself a New Bed,’ ” Vivian said. “Don’t you have a nice pink glow in your cheeks. Been sexercising?”
“Yeah, where is good ol’ Pierre?” Wendy asked. “Did he need a rest?”
“Oh, stop,” Lucy joked, bouncing up and down on the bed. “Do I really have a glow?”
“Heck, yeah, you do. Orgasms take years off your face,” Vivian said. “I think they help with blood pressure, too.”
“Hmmm,” Lucy said, keeping her bouncing pace. “So what are y’all doing?”
Vivian picked up the next file on the pile, Jeremy Donaldson. “We’re looking through these to find a killer, of course! But soon we’ll be heading to town to replace our swimming cellphones.”
“We also need to go talk to Mary Beth’s friend, Suzy Fairlie, at the fish store,” Wendy reminded.
Lucy peeked over at Jeremy’s file. “I can see his issue with Mary Beth, unrequited love and all that, but what ties does he have to Rebecca?”
Vivian skimmed the file, not finding any relevant information other than what Nicole had told them the day before. “None that I can see other than their mutual husband.”
Wendy dived into Brandon’s file. She held up a newspaper article of Rebecca’s death and a yellow Sticky Note. “This reads, ‘Brandon = suspect?’ ” She picked up another piece of paper.
“Grandpa’s notes say that after Rebecca died, he talked to people in the diner, men in the barbershop, even spoke to Amanda, Mary Beth’s cousin who owns the You Name It store. Everyone thought Brandon had something to do with Rebecca’s disappearance, and people in town also started wondering about Mary Beth’s death, was it really an accident? That before Rebecca’s death, everyone felt sorry for Brandon about losing his wife, but after he married the second so quickly and then she disappeared not too long after, folks thought he was involved in both situations. Grandpa agreed.”
Kate walked into the room rubbing her eyes. “Everybody thinks he’s in this up to his eyeballs.”
Vivian gave her a smile. “Mornin’, sunshine. How you feeling?”
Kate smiled. “I’m good. Had a little breakfast and a nap. I need to call Shaun. I think I should check in more often after last night. He was pretty freaked out.”
“You want to borrow the B&B phone to call the rental car company and arrange to get another car?” Vivian asked. “Then we can ride into town and get new phones.”
“I’m already on it,” Kate replied. “The new rental should be here in 30 minutes.”
Lucy looked at the files lying around the room and in the briefcase. “Let’s each take a file and go through these while we wait. Then we’re going to need to put these back into the briefcase and clean this place up. It looks like a tornado hit it.”
Vivian scooped up the folders and paper on the bed, dresser and floor. It looked like her office at work, paper everywhere. She double-checked Jeremy’s file in case she missed anything, but she hadn’t. She set it aside, then picked up Tracy’s purple folder.
It didn’t take long to read the contents, as the only thing inside was a fluorescent green Sticky with a single question mark. She showed the girls. “What the heck?”
Kate looked from Vivian’s face to the big black question mark. “I guess Nicole has questions about Tracy. Or maybe she wants to ask her questions.”
“Maybe Nicole thinks Tracy is next?” Wendy said.
Goosebumps broke out on Vivian’s arms. “He is kind of an asshole to her.” She shivered and set down the file and looked over Wendy’s shoulder. “Anything interesting in April’s file?”
“That Grandpa was a sly old guy,” Wendy said. “He started keeping tabs on April as soon as news broke about the school testing debacle. He was in the school for an interview when April went off on Mary Beth and heard it all. The principal was walking him to Mary Beth’s classroom when the shouting started.” Wendy stopped for a sip of coffee and to turn the page.
“He said that on April’s last day, she went across the hall to Mary Beth’s room and screamed at her. The principal ran in and broke it up and told April to leave the campus immediately. Grandpa peeked into April’s classroom and everything was scattered all over the floor and the desks were knocked over.”
“Hurricane April,” Kate said. “Does Grandpa say what he overheard?”
Wendy nodded. “He quotes her. ‘You prim and proper goody-two-shoes. You got me fucking fired. Like you never changed a kid’s answer to help him pass? One day fate is gonna kick you in the ass. Hard.’ ”
“That’s incriminating.” Vivian leaned against the dresser. “Anything else?”
Wendy flipped through a few more pages. “He followed her off and on for a couple of weeks. He suspects she keyed Mary Beth’s car and threw a baseball through the principal’s living room window.”
“That’s something,” Lucy said, gathering up the pages on Otto, the town recluse. “People do the dumbest things.”
Kate moved a file out of the way and sat in the chair. “Any connection between April and Rebecca?”
Wendy thumbed through a few more pages, then closed the folder. “Not that I see. She laid low. The last note said she started working at the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex.”
Vivian put Tracy’s file on top of Jeremy’s and Brandon’s in Nicole’s briefcase, then picked up the contents of Coach Stubbs’ file. She scanned the few pages and smirked.
“Listen to this. The football coach was known for being a little too friendly with some of the high school girls, including Mary Beth. Brandon quit midseason after finding out that the coach ‘accidentally’ bumped into Mary Beth so he could cop a feel. He had done that to a couple other girls and insisted it was accidental so nothing was done to him. Brandon didn’t buy it and wouldn’t play for him anymore.”
“Not motive for murdering Mary Beth years later,” Wendy said.
“Brandon was a key player, and they lost the rest of the games that season,” Vivian said as she put the file into the white box. “But no, not motive for murder. If anything, you think he’d be after Brandon.”
Kate opened her file. “Then why would Grandpa have him in the box of heavy hitters?”
<
br /> Vivian looked out the window for the rent car. “Maybe we’re missing some pages.” She bent down and looked under the bed. She and Lucy had picked up all the loose sheets. “What do you have in Otto’s file, Lucy?”
Lucy sat on the edge of the bed and opened the folder. “For a recluse, he knew a lot about the goings-on around town and evidently didn’t always stay so reclusive. Grandpa used to see him sitting on a bench in Mid’s Park on Main Street just watching people, so he’d join him and strike up a conversation. Looks like Otto had heard a good deal of the gossip about Brandon after Mary Beth’s death, and even more after Rebecca disappeared. Some of the rumors were pretty far-fetched, like the one that Rebecca was already married and her husband showed up and took her home. Another was that she got amnesia and wandered off. This one is crazy — that she ran off with a bassoon player from Syracuse who was in town playing with the Sinfonietta in the summer. And, of course, there’s always the aliens.” Lucy gave Vivian a huge smile. “See, I’m not the only one who watches The X-Files.”
Wendy looked at Lucy. “Where’s Pierre?”
“In our room on the computer. He said he had to do payroll.”
Kate held up a piece of paper from a file on the bed and waved it in the air. “Hey, guess who Mike Grimm is dating?”
41
Kate sat in the chair in Vivian’s bedroom jostling a piece of yellow legal paper back and forth. “Guess, go ahead,” she said to Vivian, Wendy and Lucy. “Take a big, fat guess. Guess who Mike Grimm is dating.”
They looked at her.
“Uhhhm, Nicole?”
“No! April Robinson! The teacher Mary Beth got fired.”
“Whoa,” Vivian said. “What if they’re in on both murders together? Conspiring?”
Kate set the sheet back in the file. “I can see why they’d want to murder Mary Beth, but Rebecca? If they killed her, we’re missing the connection.”