by Kym Roberts
“Have you come for the vigil?” I asked as I looked around for a place to set the cage. There might have been a place to put the cage before I left that afternoon, but it seemed in the hours I was gone, we’d collected more books than I could count. They were stacked everywhere.
Cade took the cage from me and held it up. He looked at the cute little finches who quit singing to contemplate the man in front of them as if to wonder if he was friend or foe. No one should live like that.
Cade put them at ease instantaneously with a coo that made me want to roll over so he could rub my belly. Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum played it cool and sidestepped on their perch to his side of the cage. When Cade’s finger wouldn’t fit through the rungs, Tweetle Dee improvised and pushed her body against the metal rungs so he could stroke her feathers.
“Want a couple birds? They’d make a great shtick for your next election.”
Cade didn’t seem offended, but he declined my offer. “I don’t need a shtick; my agenda will speak for itself. What’s their names?”
“Sorry, should have introduced you. Mayor Calloway, this is Tweetle Dee, the one soaking up all your attention, and Tweetle Dum is the one who seems as jealous as all get-out.”
Tweetle Dum lifted his leg and stuck it through the bars.
“Holy schnikes. I never thought I’d see a parakeet shake a finger. I think he wants you to take them home.”
Cade’s grin told me he was on to my ploy. “I think it means they’ve been trained. Where did you get them if you weren’t looking for a couple of birds?”
“They were Ava’s.”
He got that look in his eyes that brought me back to our teenage years. “You really are a Princess.”
“Does that mean you want a couple birds?”
Cade chucked me under the chin. “I think they’ll be better off at the Barn.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed. My pet armadillo didn’t take too kindly to me bringing more pets into her home. It was almost as if she thought I’d been unfaithful to her.
I thought of Isla. Could her mind have rebelled at the thought of another woman coming between her and the Judge when it was something so simple as him being Ava’s mentor?
My dad approached from the back room where Princess had disappeared. “Now I know why Princess is in such a huff.”
“She’s in a huff?”
“She’s downright ticked off because Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum are in the Barn.”
That one sentence said so much. Daddy recognized the birds on sight, and he knew the finches’ names.
I lowered my voice and proceeded with caution. “When did you meet them?”
“When Ava got them. Who brought them tonight?”
“I did.”
His brows raised in question, but I didn’t take it any further. He wasn’t the only one who could remain mute.
Scarlet’s little sister Joellen arrived and handed us each a candle. “I’m not sure we’re going to have enough. I picked up three hundred but I’m down to about thirty.”
“Really?” I was struck dumb for a moment.
Cade came to the rescue, as always. “We’ll tell those who don’t have a candle to use their cellphone flashlights. We’ll just ask everyone to hold it above their heads so they don’t blind anyone.”
We all agreed and headed out to the courtyard. Scarlet appeared in the crowd carrying some floating candles. She and Joellen began lighting them and placing them in the old rectangular fountain in the middle of the courtyard. The gentle flickering of the candles reflected off the water basin, formed from hand-cut stone pavers that had been laid sometime in the 1800s, created a somber yet romantic atmosphere for us to gather around.
Depending on what version of the story you believed, the old hospital next door used the fountain as a baptismal fountain for the sick and dying. The other version of the story claimed that the hospital wasn’t really a hospital, but a place of “healing” for the cowboys who’d been on the trail too long without female companionship. In the latter version, the fountain was more of a historical hot tub for cowboys gone wild. I liked that version best.
It looked like the entire town had gathered to pay their respects, along with half the county as well. There were young kids, middle-aged adults, and elderly people. The group that surprised me the most was the young adults in their twenties. It turned out a lot of them owed Ava for taking an interest in their lives. Yes, some had fallen through the cracks, but how would Ava have felt if she’d known she’d touched so many lives with the gift of a book or two?
I watched Betty and Franz, the only baker in Hazel Rock, add to the stacks of books outside the store, along with the manager from the Hazel Rock Diner. Cade’s parents slipped a check to my dad on the sly, but I knew it was for big bucks. The Calloways only knew how to do it large. Mary and Aubrey Buchanan were there from Beaus and Beauties, along with Leila and Joe Buck, the owners of the Tool Shed Tavern. The face I didn’t want to see, Mike Thompson, was talking to Mateo.
Fuzz buckets.
Daddy started the vigil by saying a few words about Ava’s love of literature. Then countless people, young and old, talked about the books she gave them. A few even read the inscriptions Ava wrote to them with inspirational quotes about literacy.
Daddy finally introduced the man in town who’d known Ava the longest and the best—Judge Sperry. The Judge looked older and frailer than he had that morning. On his arm was his wife, Isla, who seemed to be the stronger of the two, at least in body and spirit. She also seemed to understand the proceedings and the reason behind them. Joan from Oak Grove Manor stood off to their right in the second row. Her disdain for the Judge was evident by the curl of her lip until she saw me looking in her direction. Then she smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. I returned the gesture, then gave my attention to the Judge while sneaking peeks in the direction of Mike and Mateo.
Mateo’s notebook was in his hand. It hadn’t been a few minutes ago.
“I met Ava my first year as sheriff in Coleman County,” the Judge told the crowd. “She was just a teenager with a chip on her shoulder and no family to watch over her.” A sad smile crossed his face. “Like so many kids, the system had failed her. She was a biracial kid in a predominantly white county. Too old to be considered ‘cute and adorable,’ and no one wanted a mouthy teenager . . . no one knew that better than Ava. Her mama had died of a brain aneurysm and she never knew her daddy. She was abused in her second foster home, and nobody believed her. At that point, Ava lost faith.”
Sniffles could be heard throughout the crowd. Some of them were my own. Several of them came from Isla and I saw my daddy move in her direction while Mateo watched—everything.
Judge Sperry cleared his throat. “But given a chance, Ava flourished. She came to work at the sheriff’s office at just eighteen. She worked harder, longer, and more diligently than anyone else, and she became part of our family . . .” The Judge’s voice cracked. “The daughter we never had.”
Isla’s tears were flowing down her checks, and my daddy had his arm around her shoulder while she tried to stop the tracks of grief with his hankie. I wanted to make the Judge shut up. Everything he said was beautiful but also gut-wrenchingly sad. I wasn’t sure if I could watch all the grief around me much longer.
“Even though Ava meant the world to Isla and me, I wouldn’t have asked her to be my clerk when I made judge if she wasn’t such a good person and a hard worker. She dedicated her life to helping others within the foster care system. She truly had the biggest heart I’ve ever known, and I will miss her dearly.” He reached for Isla’s hand and pulled her to him.
I wasn’t sure if it was a political move, a reconciliation, or if he truly did need to give comfort to his wife.
“We will miss her desperately,” he choked out. Isla buried her head in his shoulder and cried as the Judge led a prayer for Ava.
Every head was bowed, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t. My eyes were on Mateo, who made his way behind my father. His gaze caught mine and held. Disappointment and dedication to duty shone through the dying light of the candles.
It was the last thing I wanted to see.
Chapter Fourteen
I wanted to mill about with the people who came to the vigil and thank them for attending. I needed to show our appreciation for the books and cash that had been donated to the literacy drive, but the drive to protect my daddy left me fighting against the push of the crowd to get to the entrance to the Barn where Mateo had disappeared with my dad. He’d whispered something in Daddy’s ear that changed everything. My dad had kissed Isla on the cheek before turning to the Judge to shake his hand. The whole thing seemed surreal, and I began to wonder if I’d fallen asleep. In that setting, my fight against the crush of the crowd made sense—a never-ending struggle to protect my father.
Except I was wide awake, and Daddy’s need of protection was real. I decided my best bet was the side door to the tearoom near the gate to the alley. I didn’t think Mateo would try to talk to him in front of the main doors. They’d make their way toward the back of the store, or if I was lucky, they’d be sitting down with a glass of sweet tea and talking, man to man, about our trip in the morning.
Funny how I’d rather Mateo talk to my daddy about a weekend of fornication between the two of us over the alternative. I shoved my key in the lock and pushed the door open while scanning the room. Neither was insight.
Fuzz buckets.
I quickly closed the door and heard low voices talking just outside the tearoom. Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dum added a few chirps into the conversation from up near the register as if they had two cents to offer.
“A witness said he saw Ava leaving your house with blood on her shirt yesterday morning.”
I slapped my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from crying out and continued to listen through the stall wall. Every bone in my body wanted to confront the lie, but my daddy wasn’t talking to me, and in order to defend him, I needed to know what we were up against.
“That’s true.”
Wait . . . what? I hadn’t seen any blood marring Ava’s clothing. I pressed my ear to the wall trying to hear over the birds who’d decided to sing a few bars in harmony.
“Is that all you’re going to say?”
“Mateo, I told you the night Ava was killed. She had been beaten badly when she showed up at my house. She never came out and admitted it was John Luke who beat her, but we talked about her going to a shelter where she would be safe.”
“You did. You just failed to mention Ava was at your house at six thirty in the morning.”
“If I did, it was purely by accident.”
One of them released a heavy sigh. I was betting it was Mateo, but my heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I couldn’t tell.
“Do you carry a knife?” Mateo asked.
“I think you know the answer to your question. I’m pretty sure you borrowed it the last time we went fishing together.” My daddy’s voice held a hint of amusement, but I’d had enough. I was not going to stand by idly eavesdropping on the opposite side of a thin wall and let this travesty of justice occur. Daddy deserved better, and Ava certainly deserved a more thorough investigation than the word of Mike Thompson. Pleasure weekend be damned.
Mateo knew I wouldn’t stand by and let it happen either. “I know your temper’s brewing in the tearoom. Come out and save us all the trouble.”
I stepped out of the stall and planted my hands on my hips. “My temper is more than brewing, it’s about to flare.”
“I figured it was.” Mateo’s voice held no emotion, and I couldn’t begin to read the expression on his face—because there was none.
“Mateo Espinosa, if you think for one minute that my daddy—”
My dad interrupted my rant. “He’s just doing his job, Princess.”
“Accusing you of murder is not doing his job,” I insisted.
Mateo stood his ground. One of his best qualities could be his worst. “I have to eliminate all possibilities, Charli.”
“This is my daddy! How can you possibly think that I will go away with you for a weekend after a stunt like this?”
“Princess—”
“Don’t.” I couldn’t hold the hurt in. Both men had let me down. One by not opening up to me, the other by not protecting the one who wouldn’t open up. Which was ironic since Daddy had told Mateo more than he’d confided in me from the very beginning.
I glared at my daddy, and a tear had the audacity to spill onto my cheek. I swiped it away. “You may not trust me, but I believe in you, and he should too.”
A flicker of pain flashed in his eyes before he silently reached into the front pocket of his jeans, pulled out his knife, and handed it over to Mateo.
“We’ll talk later. Right now, you need to understand that Mateo is doing his job for Ava. I want him to make sure no stone is left unturned. She deserves that.” He rubbed his jaw, then turned away. “I’m going out back and round up Princess. I’m sure it will take me a while.”
It was his way of saying we would have the Barn to ourselves. We could have a knock-down drag-out argument, or a kiss-fest to make up. Either way, it was up to Mateo and me.
The door closed and I looked at Mateo. He was gazing down at my daddy’s knife with his jaw clenched. I looked down at the blade he had exposed and saw what he saw. Except I saw it in a different light.
The dark stains weren’t there from a killing. They were there from cleaning . . . a fish. Daddy had gone fishing that morning, not hunting for someone to kill. Granted, it wasn’t like him to put a dirty knife away in his pocket, but I was betting he didn’t even realize he’d done it.
I moved closer to Mateo and looked him straight in the eye. “You know better than to think what you’re thinking.”
“What am I thinking, Charli?”
“You know darn well what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that’s Ava’s blood on his knife.” My hand went to my hip and my lips pursed. “Well, it’s not.”
“I had hoped you knew me better.”
I hesitated. “What do you mean?”
Mateo closed the blade. He pulled a plastic glove out of his back pocket, slipped the knife inside, and put it in his shirt pocket. It wasn’t his normal evidence collection. Not by a long shot.
“I mean . . .” It was Mateo’s turn to advance on me.
Unlike him, however, I didn’t hold my ground. I backed up until he had me against the stall wall to the tearoom. The same wall I’d listened through.
“I am trying to clear your dad’s name of any suspicion. I was upset to see the blade was dirty because it means it will take longer for the lab to say not only is Bobby Ray’s knife not the weapon that was used to kill Ava, because the blade doesn’t match up with the cut marks on Ava’s skin . . .”
His body met mine. With anyone else, it would have been intimidating. With Mateo, it made me forget everything but how good he would be at dirty dancing. His full body press was making my mind wander to more pleasant activities. He smelled beyond good.
“And the blood found on the knife is not human. That’s what I mean.” His breath tickled my lips.
“Oh.” My voice sounded like it belonged in a Lifetime movie. Breathless with anticipation. It was beyond ridiculous, yet that was all my fuzzy brain could muster.
His lips came into contact with mine the same time a trash can crashed to the ground out back. If it had stopped there, that dreamy scene would have heated up between us, but Daddy yelled right before a dull thud hit the Barn wall, and our lips never completed the tango. My thoughts immediately shot outside.
“Daddy!”
I would have pushed Mateo away, but he was off me before my exclamation hit the rafters. He ran through the
bookstore with me hot on his heels, neither one of us slowing down at the back door as we entered the pitch darkness behind the store. Mateo quickly moved me out of the light from the doorway and shoved me back against the wall. I tried pushing him away, but he was an immovable wall of hard muscle.
“Daddy!” I called.
“I’m over here.”
I looked to my left and saw the trash can tipped over, wobbling back and forth in a rocking motion on its side. A pair of boots stuck out from behind it as if someone was sitting on the ground and leaning against the Barn. Daddy struggled to gain purchase on the concrete patio, failing twice before Mateo reached him. I was as close as the shirt on his back and Mateo immediately let me take over as he scanned the area with his flashlight for whoever Daddy had been fighting.
“Are you okay?” I asked as he gained his footing. Princess was tucked into his left arm, trying to snuffle his neck while Daddy held his right bicep. Through the narrow beam of light from the back door, I could see blood seeping through his sleeve and fingers.
“I think I’ve been stabbed.”
“What? What do you mean you think you’ve been stabbed?”
Mateo was talking into the mic on his shoulder asking for an ambulance and for officers to assist in the search.
“Who attacked you?” Mateo asked as he looked over his shoulder at my daddy.
“I don’t know. He caught me totally off guard.”
“Which way did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you describe the person who did this?”
“I think he was about my height.”
“Did you see any skin or hair color? Any clothing?”
Each time my daddy shook his head. “I’m sorry. I was worried about Princess. She jumped from my arms right before I got cut. I tried to catch her and that’s when a saw a flash of silver and felt the pain in my right arm. I never heard or saw a thing before that.”