Secrets for Sale

by Jerri Kay Lincoln

  CHAPTER FOUR

  BILLY APPEARED AT the door a short time later and looked at me. “You can go first, Petra,” I said. “I don’t mind.”

  “I’m in the middle of a chapter, Lorry. You can go. But would you mind waiting and taking me home?”

  “Not at all, Petra. I’d be happy to.” I walked past her and into the hall with Billy. He took me into his arms and gave me a quick hug and kiss. Then he took me and Bingo, who had followed me, into Martha’s office. I sat down by the desk and looked at Billy. “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll get the fingerprint ink all over Martha’s desk?”

  Billy smiled and held up something that looked like my Kindle. “No more ink! How cool is that?”

  “Oh, cool! Can I do it?” I held out my hand.

  “Lorry, I already have your fingerprints, and it’s getting late. I have to do all those people in there, and I’ll probably be here all night. Do you really want your new husband to spend the entire night away from his new bride?” He winked at me.

  I pulled my hand back into my lap and felt guilty for even asking. “No, new husband.”

  That made him smile, and he reached out and picked up a legal pad and a pen. “So do you remember anyone from the audience?”

  “The only people I knew besides Mason and Petra were the guys buying the building. No one else.”

  “You’re sure?”

  I nodded. “Positive. No one. I didn’t know half the council, either. Petra had to fill me in.”

  Billy looked tired already, and his night was just beginning. “All right. You’re free to go. Can you send Petra in? It will take longer with her because I have to do her fingerprints. But this machine is quicker than the old variety.” He stood up, leaned across the desk, and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Love you, darling. Don’t wait up.”

  I walked out of the room and yawned. Billy’s fatigue had attached itself to me. While I would have liked to wait up for him like a dutiful wife—I wasn’t a dutiful wife, but I would have liked to have been, I think—it was getting later every second, and it had been a long day.

  Most of it I had spent walking back and forth down the hall spewing my angst over the impending sale and having Petra try to quiet me down so she could get her work done. Her efforts were in vain. Now I wished I would have practiced my speech, or at least tried to prepare a speech, so I wouldn’t have made such a fool of myself up there. It didn’t matter anymore, though. The buyer was dead. His son may or may not want to go through with the sale. But nothing would happen until Billy found the guy’s killer. So I had some time to come up with another plan. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought it might be a good one.

  When I reached the door of the council room, Petra was already on her feet. “I heard you coming,” she said. “I recognized the sound of your heels and of Bingo’s claws on the floor.”

  “You had enough practice listening to me walk back and forth down the hallway today!”

  “Something like that. See ya soon.”

  Sitting down again at the back of the room, I pretended I didn’t see Todd Fenton glaring at me. Thank goodness I had been in sight of Billy and the mayor when the shot killed Todd’s father. If not for that, I’m sure I would have been the prime suspect, and with good reason after my outpouring of anger during the council meeting. The finger of suspicion would have pointed my way, but fate had intervened. Obviously—at least obvious to me—it meant I had to help solve the case.

  Yes, I had told Billy I would try to stop getting involved in murder cases. But try was the salient word. He wanted me to promise, but I knew myself better than that. So I sat in the back and tried to analyze every person on the town council. I eliminated Martha as a suspect, because she was, you know, Martha. But I included Russell Tabor, and he was still near the top of my list. Todd Fenton was on the list and also near the top.

  Then I would look at the rest of the council, close my eyes, and try to imagine them holding a gun. It was a weird exercise and produced weird results. All the men except Russell Tabor held the gun without compunction.

  I would have thought the two women, Christa and Elizabeth, would have looked out-of-place with a gun in their hands. But in my mind’s eye, they both looked more than comfortable. They looked capable. Both of them. Eager, even. What were their motives? If only I had been at the first meeting when they discussed selling the building. Then I would know who voted for it and who voted against it. The motive for this murder had to do with the building. That much was obvious. And if the murderer wasn’t me, then it had to be one of them. Which one of them was the question.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “THAT FINGERPRINT DEVICE was cool! Didn’t you think so?” Petra remained standing. She was as eager to get home as I was.

  I moved my lips into a pout. “Billy wouldn’t let me do it. He said he already had my fingerprints, and he didn’t have time.”

  “Well, maybe another time. Who did you say?” she whispered to me.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You know, who did you say you thought did it?”

  “Billy didn’t ask me that. Who did you say?”

  She laughed. “I said I thought you did it.”

  I stood up indignantly. “Petra! Why would you say such a thing?”

  “Because it made perfect sense. You were the one who was outraged about the council selling the building. And you were the one who made a spectacle of yourself in front of more than a dozen witnesses. Everything pointed to you.”

  “Except, Billy must have told you I was with him and the mayor when the guy was shot. Color me innocent, Petra.”

  “Yeah, Billy told me that, but I said you probably had arranged it like that.” She smiled and winked, and I didn’t know if she was kidding or not.

  “Let’s go,” she said, “unless you want to hang in this boring place any longer.” Petra, instead of walking out the door, walked up to Martha behind the desk where she was sitting, leaned down, and kissed her on the cheek.

  I didn’t do that, though. I waved to Martha and gave her a contrite little smile. She smiled warmly back, because that was Martha. Walking out the door with Petra behind me, I didn’t notice the mayor until we were outside. He insisted on following me home. Well, first to Petra’s and then home. He had no lights or sirens on though, because he didn’t have any. But I thought I’d throw that in.

  We arrived at Petra’s, and I waited to drive off until she entered her house and flashed the porch lights at me. When I pulled into my driveway I waved to the mayor, but he waited until I walked inside the door and flashed my porch light at him before he drove off. That was kind of him, especially after my outburst in the council room. I’d have to give him credit for that. What I thought, though, was that Mayor Joe Stoddard was blaming himself for what happened. He was starting to have his doubts whether selling the historical society building was such a good idea or not.

  It wasn’t. And I was glad he felt bad. It was a historical building, for cryin’ out loud! It needed to be preserved, not made into an indoor mall or something, which was the rumor circulating around town. The whole episode made me think about the building, how much I liked it, and how much I enjoyed working there. And it got me to thinking.

  Still dwelling on the situation, I walked into the bedroom to change clothes, but I didn’t get to dwell long because Aiden called. Aiden was my son—er, our son. It would take me a while to get used to thinking that way, now that Billy and I were married. After meeting Aiden in an unusual way and then briefly becoming his advocate, I started adoption procedures, much to his and my delight. The adoption wasn’t final yet, the court appearance would be next month. Aiden couldn’t wait for it to be final! We had both waited a long time for that to happen.

  I pushed the speaker button on my phone, so I could take my shoes and clothes off while I talked to him.

  “Hi, sweetie.”

  “Hi, Mommy! I miss you!”

  “I miss you, too, Aiden.”


  “How did the council meeting go? Did you stop them from selling the building?”

  Aiden had a fondness for the building, too, because that’s where we first met. “No, I didn’t, but the sale is stopped for now. Daddy or I will tell you about it when we see you.”

  “Oh. I could look it up on the internet, but not here, because Lily broke the monitor on the computer.”

  Lily was his second cousin and his best friend. And to say she was a wild child would be like saying a tyrannosaurus rex was kinda mean. Her parents—my cousin Kasey and her husband John—let her get away with anything and everything, and never reprimanded her. Aiden was a little wild when he visited her, but I decided not to make him behave when he was over there. It wouldn’t be fair.

  “You can’t fix it?” I asked him. Aiden was a computer whiz. If anybody could fix it, he could.

  “No, the screen is too broken. Can I talk to Daddy? I miss him, too.”

  “Sorry, Aiden, but Daddy had to work late tonight.”

  “Oh, is—” I heard him say something not into the phone. “Mommy, Lily just hit me with a ball trying to get me off the phone, so I better go. She might throw the monitor at me next! Bye! I love you!” I sure hoped he was kidding. Lily wasn’t strong enough to throw a computer monitor, was she?

  CHAPTER SIX

  ALTHOUGH I WASN’T happy about the prospect of Lily throwing a computer monitor at Aiden, I was grateful she had distracted him from asking what his Daddy was doing. Aiden had an uncanny ability to deduce what was happening from the most insignificant details. And it would be better if Billy explained the situation to him. Billy was more tactful than I was. A girl has to know her limitations, you know?

  After getting undressed and putting on my robe, I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. I loved my house. It was an adorable red gambrel—that kind of house that looks like a barn—painted bright red with white trim. One thing I loved about the house was how cozy it felt inside. There was a wood stove in the living room, and a breakfast bar separating the living room from the kitchen. It had two bedrooms and an office.

  Unfortunately, Billy felt the house was too small for the three of us. He thought the house he had been fixing up would be perfect. It was on Hillside Terrace—the street with all the mansions on it—his house was elegant, but on the smaller side. Still, it wasn’t my kind of place. I wished he could make do with my beloved little gambrel, but it’s not where he wanted to live. He said he had something else in mind, but he hadn’t showed it to me yet.

  I stretched out my legs and picked up my book. The author referred to it as a reincarnational novel, and it was interesting. I wasn’t sure whether or not I believed in reincarnation, but it was a good book just the same. Aiden and I, and Billy, too, were all big readers. After finishing two or three chapters, I lay my head back on the couch and started thinking about the historical society building again.

  But I didn’t get to think too long because Billy called. He said everything was going smoother than he thought, and he’d be home in an hour and a half, unless something unexpected occurred. But having been a cop’s wife for less than a week, I had already learned that expecting the unexpected was part of the deal.

  He didn’t get home until after midnight, and I had fallen asleep on the couch. He thought I had waited up for him and he pulled me up off the couch, put his arms around me in a warm embrace, and kissed me. “Thanks for waiting up for me.”

  Lying to your not-quite-a-week new husband was not a good idea, so I confessed. But Billy, understanding as usual, said, “But you didn’t go to bed,” he said. “That proves you meant to wait up for me, and that’s good enough for me.”

  Too tired to argue, I sank back down on the couch. “You’re not mad at me?” I asked, thinking about my outburst at the meeting.

  “I expected it! Why do you think I didn’t sit with you?” He laughed. After drinking a glass of water, he sat beside me and put his arm around me. “Besides, it could have been worse. I don’t know how, but it could have been.”

  I ignored his comment, but he was probably right. “So what happened? Any leads?”

  He slowly moved his head from side to side without really shaking it. “Noooo.” He drew it out to one long word.

  “What does that mean? Who did everybody think did it?”

  He looked at me and squinched up his face. I thought he was going to cry. “Almost everyone thinks Martha did it.”

  “Martha!” I clapped my hands and laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. Come on, tell me the truth. Who does everyone think?”

  Billy looked at me still frowning. “Martha.”

  “You’re not kidding? Oh, no! How could they think that?” Without waiting for him to answer, I continued. “You don’t think she did it, do you?”

  “Of course not, Lorry.” But he said it a little too crossly which made me wonder if he had his doubts. “She’s like a mother to me. And a grandmother to Aiden.”

  That was all true. Martha, and her husband Hugo had “adopted” both Billy and I. And Aiden and I had stayed with them for several weeks in their bed and breakfast while our house was in escrow. That’s why Aiden called Martha and Hugo Grammy and Grampy. “You don’t sound very sure, Billy.”

  “I know Martha loves you, but I can’t imagine her killing someone to save your job. I just can’t see it.”

  “Of course she wouldn’t do that. Martha is incapable of murder. You’ve seen her catch spiders in that plastic glass of hers and put them outside. She can’t kill anything. Why would you even question it? Just because everyone thinks so? Billy, you’ve learned that lesson already.”

  “Yes, and after what happened to my father, I said I wouldn’t let it happen to me.”

  “Need I remind you, Billy Madrigal, when I was accused of murder, you confessed to me that you realized your father was right.”

  His arm was still around me, and after I said that, he squeezed me to him and kissed me on the cheek. “That’s one reason I love you, Lor. You’re not afraid to tell me the truth. You tell me what I need to hear.”

  “Well, it’s not like I have a choice, Billy. I just blurt that stuff out without thinking!”

  He kissed me again. “Don’t remind me!” He said it in a harsh tone, but he was kidding and smiled at me. “You know what? I miss Aiden.”

  This was our first night alone without Aiden since we had gotten married. You’d think he would say something else, but that wasn’t my Billy. And I felt grateful for that. It made me feel more loved that he loved Aiden as much as I did. If that makes any sense. Well, it makes sense to me, and that’s all that matters. Besides, Billy has no equal in that other department. Believe me, he has no equal. If you know what I mean.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  AS WE ATE breakfast the next morning, we discussed the case again. “What made everyone think it was Martha? Not just because she likes me. That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “Because she said she was in the bathroom, and no one saw her go in or out. Christa said she was in the bathroom and never saw Martha. Russell Tabor said he walked by and saw Christa coming out.”

  “Maybe they’re in it together,” I said, but it didn’t sound right even to me.

  “Ah, I don’t think there was more than one person in on this. Besides, Christa voted for the sale. It makes sense the motive for this murder has to do with the sale, but I’m not totally convinced.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. It was a little too convenient.”

  “Maybe it was convenient because it was, you know, convenient to kill him right then. You haven’t ruled anyone out yet, except you, me, the mayor, and Wichita. With everybody a suspect, it takes the heat off the real killer. I think it was clever.”

  “You could be right. Still, I’m not closing my mind to other possibilities.”

  I pushed back from the kitchen table and put my hands on my hips. “Are you trying to say I have a closed mind?” Pointing to myself, I ad
ded, “Moi?” I can’t speak French, but I can ad-lib with the best of them.

  “Well, um, I,” Billy started, then straightening up, he looked at me and said, “No, Lorry, I’m not exactly saying that, but we both know it’s true. Once you have your mind made up about somebody, not much can change it. Remember—” But he didn’t get to finish because his phone rang.

  “Sheriff Madrigal . . . Oh, yes, thanks. I’ll be right there. Bye.”

  He stood up from the table, and while he rinsed his dishes and put them in the dishwasher, he said, “I forgot. My first interview starts right now.”

  “I thought you got everybody last night?”

  “No, I just fingerprinted them, checked for GSR, and asked them a few basic questions. Everybody wanted to go home, and so did I. Anything that couldn’t wait, I asked, but there were several more questions that didn’t hurt to wait. It was better for everybody that way. Anyway, gotta leave, sweetie.” He bent over to kiss me. “I love you, and I’ll see you later.” Before he reached the door, he turned around and said, “Remind me later to tell you the weird thing about the GSR.” Then he walked to the front door and left, leaving me sitting alone in the kitchen thinking about my closed mind.

  Well, he was right. How many times in the past few months had I been absolutely, positively sure that I knew who the murderer was only to be wrong? But it was also true that I ultimately came up with the real killer—sometimes almost too late. So I had a closed mind and a judgment problem and who knows what else. I was working through all that, right? So if I acknowledged I had the problem and was working on it, then I was on the right track, right? Judgmentals Anonymous. My name is Lorry Lockharte and I’m judgmental.

  I let go of those confusing thoughts when the wall phone in the kitchen rang. “Hello! . . . Aiden! . . . No, sorry, you missed him. He already left for work. . . . I know, sweetie. I love you, too. . . . And I’m looking forward to seeing you. . . . Okay, love you, bye.”