“That’s pretty much the same reasoning I used when my mother and I paid a visit to Miranda, but because of that visit, I’d be even less welcome there now. Besides, Sherri will kill me if I go out to Pilgrim Farm on my own.” And Gordon, if he heard about it, would probably lock her up for life.
“But you’ll never get a better opportunity,” Dolores insisted. “It’s go today or don’t go at all, because odds are good that Hadley Spinner will be out on bail sometime tomorrow.”
Chapter Fifteen
Pilgrim Farm was in chaos when Liss pulled into the dooryard. She was once again reminded of chickens. These still had their heads. They were clucking as they fluttered about, a flock of demented hens, and some of them were pecking at each other.
Dolores, from the passenger seat, swiveled around to take in all the action. She’d solved Liss’s dilemma about venturing into enemy territory alone by insisting upon coming with her. Although Liss knew it would have been wiser to bring Sherri, or even Dan, she’d agreed to the plan. She’d been having second thoughts throughout the drive to Little Mooseside.
The thump, as Laurel Miller threw a bulging duffel bag into the trunk of an aged station wagon, caught Liss’s attention. When Laurel opened the passenger-side door, Liss saw that Kimmy was already installed in a child seat in the back. Anna was behind the wheel. More amazing still, both women wore blue jeans and sweatshirts. Where, Liss wondered, had those come from? Come to think of it, hadn’t someone told her, or at least implied, that the Pilgrims only owned two vehicles, a pickup truck and an old VW bug?
Miranda stood in the doorway to the ell, a furious expression on her face, but she didn’t try to stop the other women from leaving. The raised voices Liss heard as she got out of her car came from a quarrel in progress between Chloe Spinner and one of the Pilgrim men.
“Shut up, George!” Chloe shouted. “I’m done listening to you!”
George, Liss thought. Not Mr. Gerard. Hadley Spinner’s control over the little things had slipped badly since his arrest.
“You need to calm down.” George was so wrapped up in his argument with Chloe that he failed to notice that there were strangers present. “Mr. Spinner will be back tomorrow and all will be right again.”
“Mr. Spinner can go hang,” Chloe shot back. “I never realized until he was gone just how much I hated this place. It was like waking up and seeing the world around me for the first time in years. Pilgrim Farm is toxic and I’m getting out while the getting is good.”
She wasn’t the only one. A couple, suitcases in hand, emerged from the barn. Liss identified the woman as Denise, but she drew a blank on her husband’s name.
“You’re just scared the cops will come back,” George yelled, pulling Liss’s attention back to him. He sounded worried about that possibility himself.
“Of course I am. You may be okay with going to jail, but I’m not.”
“They’ve got nothing on us. We’re . . . we’re transparent.”
“How can you believe that? Hadley made us lie for him.”
“You—”
“I know about the knife. We all do.”
Liss’s gasp was loud enough for both Chloe and George to hear. Chloe’s face drained of color when she realized who Liss was. George was made of sterner stuff.
“You’ve got no business here.” He took a threatening step toward the two women from Moosetookalook.
As a jolt of fear shot through her, Liss considered retreat, but Dolores had her back. Leveling her patented librarian’s glare at him, she shouted, “Stop right there.”
George glowered, but didn’t come any closer. “You’re trespassing.”
“And your happy little group is falling apart. Why is everyone running away?”
Miranda had crossed the dooryard to stand beside George. “That’s none of your business.”
The librarian’s glare did not work on Hadley Spinner’s wife, but Jasper’s widow welcomed the chance to air her grievances.
“I’ll tell you why.” Chloe jerked her head at Miranda. “Her husband is seriously disturbed.”
“Be silent, Mistress Spinner.”
“Oh, come off it, Miranda! You know it’s true.”
Chloe turned her back on Hadley’s wife to focus on Liss and Dolores. If looks could kill, Chloe would have a knife between her ribs. Fortunately for the younger woman, Miranda simply stood there, her arms folded across her bosom and her back as stiff as a poker. When George tried to place a comforting hand on her arm, she shook him off without sparing him so much as a glance.
Her expression earnest, her voice pleading, as if it was of the utmost importance that she make two strangers understand, Chloe said, “He used to be different. Hadley Spinner was . . . eloquent. It was easy to believe what he told us. And then things changed. Some days he can barely string two coherent words together, and half the time those don’t make any sense.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Miranda said through clenched teeth.
George sighed deeply. “Yeah, she does.”
“Traitor!”
“I’m only telling the truth. You know there’s something wrong with him, Miranda. Jasper did, too. That’s why—”
“Enough! Mr. Spinner is your friend. Your leader.”
“Not so much anymore.” As if a dam had broken, George couldn’t seem to stop talking, any more than Chloe had been able to. He directed his words at Liss and Dolores. “Hadley Spinner has self-control issues. I expect you’ve seen that for yourself.” As abruptly as it had blossomed, his anger was gone, leaving only sorrow and regret behind.
“That’s putting it mildly,” Liss murmured.
“He’s obsessed with taking revenge on anyone he thinks has slighted him. That’s why he went after Joe Ruskin. Nobody can hold a grudge like Hadley Spinner.”
“It wasn’t the couples issue?” Liss watched George’s face as she asked the question and caught the flash of panic in his eyes.
“That was a bonus,” Chloe said, apparently unaware that Liss had touched a nerve.
Liss moved on. “Did he also want revenge on Margaret Boyd?”
George’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Who is—oh, you mean Susan’s friend? That was a long time ago.”
“It was,” Liss agreed, “but you just said he doesn’t let go of grudges and it was one of her knives that was used to kill Jasper.”
Although Laurel and Anna had driven away with Kimmy, the rest of the Pilgrims remained, even the couple with the suitcase. Their expressions ranged from confused to worried to terrified.
“Mr. Spinner only carried that knife to protect himself,” Miranda stated in a flat voice. “He has enemies.”
I know about the knife, Chloe had said. Belatedly, Liss realized that she hadn’t meant the one from Margaret’s kitchen, after all.
“Let me get this straight. Hadley Spinner took a knife to the demonstration? “
It was Diana who answered. “Connie saw him put it back.”
“Mr. Spinner needed it for protection,” Miranda insisted. “It wasn’t the knife someone used to kill his cousin.”
George rounded on her. “I thought Jasper was shot.”
“That’s what Hadley told us, after the police came,” said another of the Pilgrim men.
“He lied.” The moment Liss stated that fact, the missing piece of the puzzle fell into place. What must have happened that day in the town square was so clear to her that she was amazed no one had worked it out before. “I don’t think Hadley took that knife for protection. He planned to use it to rid himself of a rival. No wonder Connie was worried.”
Stricken, George gaped at her. “Is that why Hadley lost his temper with her when she mentioned it? He told her to shut up about it if she knew what was good for her.”
“Was Jasper planning a coup?” she asked. “Was he that worried about his cousin’s state of mind?”
For a moment, she didn’t think anyone would answer her. Then George spoke up.
“He was . . . concerned.”
She looked him straight in the eye. “It seems to me Hadley might have suspected that your tribe, led by Jasper Spinner, was about to vote him off the island.”
George surprised her yet again by understanding the reference. “Jasper was thinking about it.”
Apparently, the Pilgrims had a television stashed somewhere. Probably in the men’s quarters, Liss thought, so that the poor, weak-minded womenfolk wouldn’t be corrupted by it.
“You need to go to the police and tell them everything you know,” she said aloud. Her gaze paused briefly on each of the Pilgrims. “All of you need to talk to them.”
“But we don’t know anything for sure,” George insisted.
Liss thought otherwise. Connie might have been the only one to see Hadley with a knife, but the rest of them, especially the men, had almost certainly witnessed more than they were aware of during the demonstration. Maybe one of them had even seen Hadley sneak into Margaret’s apartment. He could easily have done so while Margaret and Jasper were focused on each other.
“You need to leave,” George said before she could ask any more questions. He took her arm in an unbreakable grip and steered her toward her car.
“Hey!” Dolores trotted after them. “Unhand her!”
George lowered his voice to keep the others from overhearing. “Please. Let us handle this ourselves. Miranda’s the key, and she’ll stick to her guns as long as there are outsiders here. We’ll talk this over among ourselves and decide what’s best to do.”
“You need to act before morning. Chances are good that Hadley will be released on bail.”
George went pale beneath his tan. “Believe me, I know that time is of the essence.”
* * *
Liss stared groggily at the face of the clock, unable to believe that it was nine-fifteen. “Of all the days to oversleep,” she muttered.
Since it was Monday and the Emporium was closed, she hadn’t set the alarm, but she was almost always awake by seven. If nothing else got her up, the cats would. They ran on “sun time” and wanted their breakfast at the crack of dawn, no matter how early that was.
It didn’t take her long to figure out what had happened. Dan was unaware of her plan to talk to the police first thing in the morning. He’d been helping his father at The Spruces when she arrived home the previous afternoon and hadn’t returned until well after midnight. By then, she’d been asleep, and she’d still been sleeping when her considerate husband got up, fed the cats, and closed the bedroom door so that they wouldn’t come back in and disturb her rest.
Groaning, she grabbed the first clothes she could lay hands on. She dressed in a rush and barely took the time to run a comb through her night-tangled hair, beset by the feeling that she’d made the wrong decision when she’d agreed to trust George.
What she should have done, as soon as she got home from Pilgrim Farm, was call the police. Instead she’d let sentiment sway her. She’d been moved to pity by George’s request. How could she not be? The remaining Pilgrims were as much Hadley Spinner’s victims as Jasper had been. He’d taken away their freedom to choose. Now that they were finally prepared to think for themselves, didn’t they deserve a chance to act on their own?
What she’d willfully ignored was that some of them had been ready to run. Surely they wouldn’t all flee? It was only necessary that a few of them testify against Hadley, and Connie was the one who’d seen the knife. Still, she knew she should have phoned Sherri and told her what she’d deduced.
She saw that the lights were on in Dan’s workshop when she stumbled into the kitchen in search of coffee. He’d been hard at work while she’d been a lazy slugabed. He’d even taken care of cleaning the litter box. On any other day, she’d be pleased by his thoughtfulness. This morning she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that she was going to regret those additional hours in the sack.
“Don’t be stupid!” she said aloud, startling Glenora into opening one green eye. “Hadley Spinner won’t even have had his bail hearing yet, and if it’s set high enough, maybe he won’t be able to raise the money. You’re worrying for nothing.”
Cheered by her own words, she filled a go-cup with coffee from the pot Dan had made. She’d heard of cases where family members had to put their houses on the line to get relatives out of jail. Hadley’s “family” didn’t seem likely to do anything for him. Even Miranda’s defense of her husband had not been entirely convincing.
She grabbed a coat and headed for the police station. She felt certain Sherri would be in by now. Heck, she’d probably been at work for a couple of hours already.
Sherri looked up, her expression unrevealing, as Liss entered her office. “I’m glad you stopped by. I was about to call you.”
“You may not be so glad to see me after I’ve confessed.” She took a hasty sip of the hot coffee to fortify herself. “Or do you already know about yesterday’s visit to Pilgrim Farm?”
The sudden furrowing of Sherri’s brow was answer enough.
“Damn. They were going to talk to you. Or tell someone. Maybe Gordon—”
“Why don’t you start at the beginning? Why on earth did you go out there alone?”
“I wasn’t alone. Dolores was with me.”
Sherri rolled her eyes. “Talk.”
In a reasonably coherent manner, given that she’d only had a few swallows of coffee to jump-start her brain, Liss described the scene they’d found when they visited the New Age Pilgrims the previous day and recounted the conclusions she’d drawn from what had been said.
“A kitchen knife,” Sherri repeated when Liss ran down the list. “That’s it?”
“Well . . . yes. But it shows intent, doesn’t it? And if Jasper was the leader of a rebellion, that’s motive for Hadley to have gotten rid of him. George said he never lets go of a grudge, so if he still resented Margaret’s accusations about Susan, there’s the reason he decided to use one of her knives instead of the one he brought with him.”
“That’s pretty iffy logic.”
“Maybe, but everyone agrees that Hadley wasn’t firing on all cylinders. The thing is, the Pilgrims were supposed to tell someone about that knife before Hadley’s bail hearing. If they didn’t come to you, they must have called the state police.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I’m out of the loop on the murder investigation, but do you remember that I said I was glad you stopped by? That was because I was going to warn you that Hadley is already out on bail. His case came up first thing this morning and since he’s the owner of record of Pilgrim Farm, he put the deed up to secure the bond. I’m told Miranda picked him up at the courthouse.”
The hollow feeling in the pit of Liss’s stomach had nothing to do with the fact that she hadn’t yet had breakfast. “No one went to the police.”
“It doesn’t sound like it. If Gordon had heard from them and thought there was more to look into, I’m pretty sure he’d have contacted the D.A. and she’d have tried to convince the judge to set bail a lot higher. She didn’t.”
Liss polished off her coffee as she tried to process what Hadley’s freedom would mean. “Do you think he’ll try to find Connie?”
“There were conditions set on his bail. He’s not to go near The Spruces or your house or business. He’s forbidden to contact Connie or you or Dan or Joe.”
Liss mimed wiping sweat from her brow.
“That’s no guarantee that he won’t ignore the conditions of release.”
“Especially if he is the one who killed Jasper. Stop rolling your eyes! I’ll admit that the fact that he took a knife to the demonstration isn’t proof of anything, but shouldn’t someone question him about it? I’d like to hear his answer myself. And I’d like a chance to tell George Gerard what I think of him for promising to talk to the police and then wimping out.”
Sherri stood, pulling her utility belt out of the drawer where she kept it when she wasn’t on patrol. The gun, the Taser, the pepper spray, and th
e handcuffs should have reassured Liss about her friend’s safety, but somehow they didn’t.
“You can’t go out there alone.”
“I’ll call for a backup from the sheriff’s department, but it’ll probably take them a little while to get here.”
“You should wait for them.”
Sherri’s eyebrows shot up. “So now you’re an expert on police procedure? Spinner isn’t going to give me any trouble. At worst, he’ll refuse to answer questions.”
“We’re talking about the guy who broke my window and tried to take Connie away against her will.”
“Did you see him resisting arrest? He may have some strange beliefs, and maybe he’s got a few screws loose, but he’s smart enough not to tangle directly with the law.”
“Famous last words,” Liss muttered, but she was talking to empty air. Sherri had left the building.
* * *
By the time Liss walked home and refilled her go-cup, she’d come to a decision. She couldn’t let Sherri go out to Pilgrim Farm on her own. Liss knew she probably wouldn’t be much help, but until Sherri’s backup arrived, she had to be better than nothing. Although Spinner might be angry enough to strike out at one person, even one who was armed, surely he’d think twice about taking on two, especially if he’d realized he could no longer count on the support of the other Pilgrims. They might not have ratted him out, but Liss doubted they’d let him assault a police officer.
The only vehicle in sight when Liss pulled into the dooryard at Pilgrim Farm was the Moosetookalook cruiser. Sherri stood a few feet in front of it, talking to Miranda. She turned at the sound of the approaching car to scowl at Liss, but she didn’t immediately order her to turn around and leave.
Liss got out of the car and joined the other two women.
“They’ve gone,” Sherri said. It was cold enough that Liss could see a puff of breath accompany each word. “All of them but Mrs. Spinner here. I was just asking her where her husband is.”
“I have no idea,” Miranda said.
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