Mrs. Fix It Mysteries (5 Cozy Mystery Books Collection)

by Belle Knudson

“We had no choice. We only confirmed the connection this morning. We were waiting on some more information.”

  “You were here as backup?”

  “Yes and no. I was still here for you.”

  She didn’t feel betrayed, but a lesser woman might have felt that way. She looked out the window as the cops walked Clem to a patrol car. Her heart went out to him even if he’d been part of the threats. He was still burying his sister. Though she didn’t know how close they were since Meghan had never mentioned him.

  And what had Kendall known of Meghan, or Clem, for that matter? She’d disappeared not long after talking to Clem.

  “I hate to tell you this, but Meghan was involved in that group in college,” Scott said. He started his truck. “We could find no record of her being a part of it after that.”

  At the moment, Kate’s thoughts were on Kendall.

  Chapter Nine

  With a few hours to kill since she’d taken the day off for Meghan’s funeral, Kate spent another hour cleaning out Greg’s office. She had moved five boxes to the basement and five more would be donated. The man had kept too many things in his office.

  Now that the desk was cleared off, she put her laptop on it so she could work. She did a search online for Kendall Stuart. Well, Kendall Tully Stuart, as she found out. Somehow Kendall was related to Meghan and Clem.

  Interesting.

  This was the type of search Kate would have gone to the library for. Meghan would have thought of other ways to look for information on people. She had a good head for research. Kate searched her memory to see if she could come up with other ways to find information about Kendall.

  Her phone rang. It was Scott. Maybe she could get information out of him.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hi, Katydid. I wanted to check in on you and see how you’re doing.”

  “I’m okay. I’m just doing a search on Kendall and Clem.”

  “Why?”

  “Because some part of me thinks they’re more connected than Kendall lets on.”

  Scott cleared his throat. “Haven’t I asked you to stay out of this more than once?”

  He wasn’t mad, but there was that sternness to his voice. He might get mad, but she wasn’t going to back down. She had to find out who killed Meghan. The woman had been her friend.

  “You know something.”

  “I know lots of things, Kate. I know that we are doing everything possible to solve Meghan’s murder. I also know that I don’t like your interference with a murder investigation.”

  Well. He put her in her place. “That’s not stopping me.”

  “Please, Katydid. Please don’t. All I’ll say is this is bigger than you think.”

  That made her think of the anarchist group camped outside of town. “It has something to do with the group Clem was involved in, right?”

  She’d been looking at the wrong person. Maybe Meghan was killed as a warning to Clem. Perhaps he wasn’t toeing the line.

  “I’m going to go now, Scott.”

  “Stop snooping, Kate. Come out to lunch with me at noon.”

  “We’ll see.”

  She disconnected and turned off her phone so he couldn’t call her back. Sneaky, she knew, but she had to find out about the group. Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that Meghan was killed while they were in town.

  Searching her memory, she came up with the name Scott had told her: Anarchist Freedom Network. She typed that into her search engine. She clicked on the first entry and came to the organization’s website. Wow. At first it looked like a normal business website. That must be the legitimate arm that Scott had mentioned. There were pictures of them building homes for the poor and collecting items for disaster relief.

  On the surface, it all seemed so good. Then she read the other parts of the website and found the page that espoused their beliefs. This was a group that wanted to overthrow the government. Not to garner power for themselves, but to cause anarchy—hence the name. They didn’t use government handouts...they made loans among themselves.

  Except for the violence, they sounded Amish.

  Their symbol looked familiar. She had no idea where she’d seen it before, maybe at Greg’s work. College students tended to be drawn to these radical groups. They wanted to pretend that they were anti-establishment. Meanwhile, they were attending established colleges that received government funds.

  The website caused Kate even more puzzlement. So, Clem was part of this. They’d made threats against Founder’s Day. But why Rock Ridge? More importantly, why Meghan?

  The key had to be Clem, so Kate looked into his background more. He hadn’t gone to college, but she found a picture of him being arrested for a protest in another part of the state. She considered how he might have been recruited by them if he hadn’t been in college. It seemed to be where they recruited new members.

  Kate turned her chair to look out the window at the woods. She didn’t go in them much anymore. She should. They were probably soothing. Her mind needed to sort all of this out. She still had a strong intuition that the group had something to do with Meghan’s death.

  Kate had to go talk to Clem. She wondered if Kendall would know. She had some link to the anarchist group. Kate had seen the woman with a member, and Kendall had clearly been talking to Clem before his arrest. Can I just talk to her about this?

  But, in the end, she didn’t know if Kendall would shed light on the problem, or if she was part of the problem. She wanted to know if Kendall knew who had killed Meghan, but even if she did, she wouldn’t tell Kate about it.

  Kate turned her phone back on. Scott hadn’t left any messages. Good. He isn’t mad. He was probably frustrated with her, but not mad.

  Her phone rang. It wasn’t Scott, so she answered it.

  ***

  Kate parked her truck at a house that was next to Kendall’s. Both properties had woods behind them and the driveways were near each other, but out in the country, the boundaries were less clear.

  Kate had driven past where the anarchists were camping. For a second, Kate thought about driving in, but then decided she wasn’t that stupid. No one knew where she was, and if something happened, how quickly would anyone get there? What would she say to them anyway?

  Besides, this new customer had an emergency. Kate knocked on the door of the cute little cottage in the woods. If Kate had picked a house for herself, it would be just like this. Part of her expected a hobbit to answer the door.

  Instead, a woman in her thirties opened the door. She was dressed to stay home in sweatpants and a shirt sporting a local baseball team.

  “Jenna?”

  The woman opened the door wider. “Yes, I’m Jenna. You must be Kate.”

  “I am.”

  They shook hands. The woman let her inside, closing the door behind her. “My neighbor, Kendall, gave me your number. I hadn’t expected to use you so soon.”

  “I didn’t have anything going on this afternoon.”

  “Lucky me, then.”

  “Do you want to show me the problem?”

  “Well, my washer died and it leaked. I didn’t find it right away, because I just came back from vacation,” Jenna said.

  The laundry room was right off the tiny kitchen. Okay, maybe this house was too small for Kate. She liked her kitchen, and it was much bigger than this.

  In the laundry room, the washer was gone, but the floor had the remains of the leak. The tiles had been pulled off the floor and the subfloor was warped.

  “Do you have more tiles?” Kate said.

  “I do. “She left and returned with a stack. “It was on sale, so we bought a bunch just in case this happened.”

  “I need to tear up the subfloor and then put new plywood down. This stuff is warped. I can give you a price beforehand.”

  “Whatever the price is, I’ll pay it. The new washer is coming tomorrow and I need it done.”

  “Okay.”

  Kate returned with a piece of plywood she’d had in her t
ruck. She cut it to the size she needed. She tore up the warped board and put a new one in. Jenna hovered, but Kate pretended not to mind.

  “So you’re friends with Kendall?” she asked, just to make conversation.

  She glanced up to see Jenna grimace. “I wouldn’t call us friends. We’re neighbors. Cordial. We don’t run in the same social circles.”

  “I see.”

  Based on her house and clothing, this woman had taste. Not high-end, but good taste. Kendall was more of a freak show in how she dressed. Kate wasn’t going to say that out loud, however.

  “Kendall has some odd friends.”

  “Oh?”

  Maybe this woman had information that might be useful.

  “Yes, she had people at her house. It didn’t sound like a party, because I can hear when she and her husband have parties; the music goes all night.”

  “Not fun.”

  “No, it’s not. At least I don’t have kids. Anyway, this wasn’t a party. There were lots of motorcycles and strange people. I think they came from that group that’s camping out this way.”

  “I see.”

  “And that woman who was just killed was there.”

  Kate wondered how Jenna could even see all of that. The houses weren’t that close.

  “Meghan?”

  “Yes, that librarian. She’d been to Kendall’s house, but I don’t think they got along. I once asked Kendall about her. I’m nosy; I’ll admit it. Kendall told me they were cousins.”

  “That would explain why she was at the funeral.”

  “I didn’t think she liked the woman. Why would she attend her funeral?”

  Was there bad blood between Kendall and Meghan?

  “What about Kendall’s brother?”

  I might as well ask since the woman is talking.

  “Oh, that low life. He scares me. He looks at you as if he knows all of your secrets.”

  Kate could agree with that. She suppressed a shudder. “This is going to make some noise,” Kate warned.

  She screwed the plywood into place. Then she applied the adhesive, laid the tile and finished with grout. Jenna busied herself in the kitchen as Kate worked.

  “It should be dry by the time the washer gets here tomorrow,” Kate said as Jenna admired her handiwork.

  “It looks like new—or at least like the surrounding tile. Thank you so much.”

  After she’d loaded up her tools, Kate returned from her truck and gave Jenna an invoice. Jenna left to write a check. She came back and handed it to Kate. “If you have a few minutes, I have a project that I want you to give me an estimate on.”

  “I have a few minutes.”

  Lunch was still an hour away. She still hadn’t decided if she was eating with Scott or not.

  Jenna showed her a picture of a fire pit. It was made with stones and dug into the ground. The paper listed all of the supplies she would need. She’d never done stonework, but she’d bet she could do it. She would read up on it first.

  Her heart hurt because this was something she would have asked Meghan to help her research. She swallowed the tears that threatened to leak out.

  “Can you do it?”

  “Yes. I’ll have to do some research and get back to you on the price. I don’t have any idea what the materials will cost.”

  “That’s fine. I’m not in a hurry. It’s just something I always wanted and never did anything about. Now that I know someone who can do this stuff, I was reminded of it.”

  “Okay. It’ll take me a day or so.”

  “Not a problem.”

  Kate headed to Grayson’s Hardware Store. Larry had a few customers, so Kate found her way to what she needed. She tallied what the fire pit materials would cost her. She estimated her time, and then had a pretty good idea what she needed to charge Jenna for it.

  This was going to take her most of a day to do this project. She’d have to make sure she didn’t schedule anything else, and the payoff had to be worth it.

  “A fire pit?” Larry said over her shoulder.

  “Yep. It’s for a new client. She had directions, and she knows what stone she wants.”

  “Nice. You are getting very busy, aren’t you?”

  “I am.”

  “I’m so happy for you, Kate.”

  “Hey, I hear you and Carly are doing well.”

  “She’s a great lady, Kate. I’m nuts about her.”

  “Good. I’m glad. I’m happy for both of you.”

  Larry looked at his feet for a moment, blushing. Then he was all business. “I might have a book about fire pits you can borrow.”

  “Since the library is closed, I will take you up on that offer. It might be something I can do for other people. I can put it on my website.” She had just recently created one.

  “I saw your website. You’re moving up in the world.”

  “Yes, I guess I am.”

  The front door jangled. Larry left to attend to the customer. Kate double-checked her numbers and then took off.

  She decided to have lunch with Scott.

  “I’ve seen you a lot today,” Scott said. “That isn’t a complaint.”

  “I guess you have. You’re my only friend free for lunch.”

  “Ouch.”

  She laughed. “I did some snooping. I know you don’t want me to, but I think Kendall and Clem are involved in Meghan’s death.”

  “Kate.”

  She shrugged. “Okay I’ll pretend I didn’t snoop.”

  Chapter Ten

  Kate left Scott and returned to her truck. Their lunch had been a little strained, but that was okay. She was stepping on his toes.

  Her truck was parked in the lot at the front of the municipal complex. There hadn’t been open spaces anywhere else. That part faced a busy road, so Kate had always felt safe leaving her truck there.

  As she walked to her truck, she noticed someone leaning against it. As she approached, she saw it was Bubba, Kendall’s brother.

  She was tempted to return to Scott’s office, but Bubba saw her, coming to his feet as she approached. What could he want? She looked around to see if anyone else was in the parking lot. She wanted to be able to run. She had her keys in her hand.

  Kate stopped a few feet from her truck. “Bubba.”

  He grimaced at her use of his name. She wanted him to know that she knew who he was. It might stop him from doing anything stupid. The building had a bank of windows on this side. Hopefully someone was looking out at that moment.

  “You need to stay out of our business,” Bubba said.

  He was wearing his usual ripped jeans and leather jacket. It was a warm day for that jacket, but if he was on his motorcycle, he’d want it. Not that she really cared. Her heart sped even though his words were not said in a menacing tone. His whole demeanor was scary to her.

  “How am I in your business?”

  He stepped closer. She stepped back, ready to run.

  “Just stay out of it.”

  He walked away, and then climbed onto his motorcycle. It took a moment for Kate’s heart rate to steady. That’s when it hit her: she was pissed. She hadn’t been snooping in his life. Their lives had crossed her path. They had interfered in her life.

  She climbed into her truck. It was time to see Kendall. She had some work to do at her house, but what she really wanted to do was confront her about her brother. After arriving at Kendall’s house, Kate sat in her truck for a moment, wondering what she was going to say.

  Her phone rang. It was Jason.

  “Hello, sweetie.”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No, why do you ask?”

  She laughed. She could count on one hand how many times either of her boys had called her since going off to college. “Because you don’t call unless there is a problem.”

  “Sorry. I was just thinking about Dad.”

  “Okay. What about?”

  “Just that I think it’s time you moved on.”
<
br />   “Why were you thinking about that?”

  “Because, I was thinking about Mr. York and how good he was to us this summer. I think he likes you, Mom.”

  “We’re friends, Jason.”

  Had the boys picked up on an undertone between us? She’d tried her best to hide it.

  “He wants more than that.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “He didn’t have to, Mom. It was in the way he looked at you.”

  “What brought on this soul-searching?”

  “I have a girlfriend.”

  Kate wanted to laugh, but boys’ egos could be fragile. “Oh? What’s her name?”

  “Becky.”

  She’d have to call Jared and see what he thought of this development. “Sounds pretty.”

  “Are you coming up for Parents’ Weekend? You’ll meet her.”

  “That sounds great, honey. Has Jared met her?”

  “He has, and they get along great.”

  Nothing like a call from your kid to put life in perspective. Kate chatted with him for a few minutes then hung up. Now she didn’t want to confront Kendall.

  But she had to.

  First, she decided that since she was right there she would look at those bleachers. The bleachers were housed behind a garage used by the Department of Public Works. They had brought them outside for her to look at.

  Kate made notes for what she would need and what it would cost. She’d be ready when Jessica was back in town. She didn’t think it would take too much to get them in shape. She’d have to replace most of the screws with stainless steel so they wouldn’t rust.

  It was kind of neat for her to fix these because her father had built them when she was a kid. Maybe that was why Jessica had asked her to fix them.

  Content that she knew what she had to do, she climbed back into her truck. It didn’t want to start at first. She guessed it was time to take it back to the shop. A few more dollars, and she could buy a new one.

  ***

  Kendall answered the door in flowered yoga pants and a fuchsia tank top. Her lipstick matched her shirt.

  “Hey, Kate. Come on in.”

  Kendall moved out of the way. Kate entered the house, ready to paint the replaced drywall she’d spackled the other day. She also wanted to talk to the woman—feel her out. She wanted to know if she was still involved with the anarchists.