“Well, let’s have a bit of a poke about, shall we?”
Alice had to lift Chester onto the table, where before she’d just double tap the top and the dog would jump up on his own.
Alice stared at the posters on the walls advertising the latest in flea treatments and preventatives for worms. There was a sign for rabbit owners about ensuring they immunized their pets to protect against the newest calicivirus strains.
Chester gave a small groan as the vet palpitated his abdomen. Josh Freeman leaned further over, treading more carefully as he massaged around the painful area the second time around. Alice folded her arms tightly across her chest to hide their shaking.
“He can get down now,” Josh said as he finished up. “You might need to lift him.”
Alice hurried over and picked Chester up, cradling him against her stomach for a moment before she set him down on the floor.
“It looks like Chester has some distension in his abdomen,” the vet said. “I’ve taken a few vials of blood for testing, and hopefully that should pinpoint his ailment further.”
“How long will that take?”
“A few hours for some, a day or two for the others. Would you like them as they come in, or all at once?”
“All at once.” Alice stroked the hair on top of Chester’s head. It felt like warm velvet. “What do I do in the meantime?”
“Just let him sit quietly in his favorite place.” The vet leaned down to give Chester a stroke along his back. “If he’s keeping still, that will limit the discomfort from whatever is troubling him. I’ll also give you a prescription for him to take at night, to ensure he gets a good sleep.”
Alice twisted her hands together, the bones in her knuckles crackling. “Do I give him something for the pain?”
“The prescription will help with that at night, but until we find exactly what the trouble is, I won’t know what to give him.” Josh offered her a kind smile. “In the meantime, spoil him a little and try not to worry.”
Alice snorted at that last bit, and the vet nodded. “I know. It’s difficult, but it’s the best suggestion I have.”
He walked Alice out into the reception area, passing across the script for Chester. “Now, I’ll call as soon as we know anything.”
Alice nodded and tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.
Chapter Eleven
By the time Alice reached home, the courier company had emailed back with an appointment time for the following day. She supposed if they were as low-grade as their ads made them appear, then they’d have free time on their hands.
Chester showed no signs of change after the vet’s examination. He moped along to his spot on the porch and sat down, giving a small grunt of satisfaction as he settled into place.
“You’re a good boy,” Alice told him, giving him a pat. He raised his eyebrows to look up at her, not bothering to lift his head.
Alice sent a confirmation back to the courier company, then regretted it a moment later as doubts set in. She shouldn’t be mucking around in all this stuff. She should spend her time at home, with her bees, her fields, and her dog. If she didn’t take the time now, the opportunity might be gone tomorrow.
The questions kept turning over and over in Alice’s mind as she made supper and then sat down, trying to read a book. The words swam in front of her eyes, and she would turn the page, only to turn it back—her retention of the earlier paragraphs at an all-time low.
Finally, she gave up the effort and went to bed, but that did her no good either. Alice lay on her back, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Her body couldn’t remember how to fall asleep.
When the clock on top of her bedside cabinet flicked over to midnight, Alice threw off the covers and walked through to the living room. A pale moon spread silver light across the hardwood floor, and she stared at her feet for a second entranced—they looked like they’d turned to stone.
Chester wasn’t sitting at his usual spot on the porch, and Alice’s heart leaped in her chest. She opened the door, careful of where she trod while searching for him. So much for the pill sending him to sleep!
After a twenty-minute search, Alice found him curled up next to the beehives in the manuka pasture. Chester had arranged some of the fresh clippings in a stack beside him. Alice remembered him doing the same with sticks when he was a younger pup. He’d never got the theory behind playing fetch quite right, a trait that endeared him to her forever.
After a minute spent staring at his sleeping form, Alice went back inside and grabbed her sleeping bag out of the hallway closet. She returned to Chester’s position, the hives just a short stroll away, and lay down next to him, one hand stroking the back of his neck until she too fell asleep.
As she prepared breakfast the next morning, her neck stiff from the hard ground, Alice realized she’d never canceled the appointment with the couriers. She brought up the calendar on her phone and checked the time. Nine-thirty in the morning. There was time to check on the bees in the clover pasture before she’d need to shower, change, and get herself mentally prepared.
The courier company’s offices were in a concrete block building out behind the airport. As Alice drove along the potholed road, she spotted three rabbits sprinting pell-mell across the grass sections dotted in between the buildings.
In another field, prime real estate if only there weren’t a noisy airport right next door, a flock of sheep casually grazed. Their tranquil stares followed Alice as she drove past them at slow speed, looking for the right place.
The receptionist appeared slightly startled by her appearance in the office. Alice nervously brushed her good black pants and white blouse in case they were the problem, checking they weren’t covered in telltale hairs. Chester seemed to shed all year round.
“Come on through,” the young woman said with a wide smile, holding the door open while Alice walked in, then skipping ahead two steps to lead the way. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to see Darlene Stamp, as you requested, but I’m sure Kauri Whitmore can answer any questions you have.”
“Why can’t I see Darlene?” Alice asked, taken aback. She’d been preparing herself for the appointment and now felt out of step. “Does she have another client?”
The receptionist shook her head. “No, she called in sick to work this morning. There’s been a nasty cold making the rounds.”
Alice noticed the woman’s smile slipped as she gave that excuse. A virus called ‘my co-worker was murdered yesterday’ was a lot harder to recover from than a common cold.
Kauri Whitmore stood a good six inches taller than Alice, and with shoulders as broad as his namesake tree, made her middle-aged thickset body feel quite petite.
“You’re in the honey business, is that right?” Kauri asked as he waved Alice into a chair.
She nodded. Since she was here without any recourse to back out, Alice might as well do her due diligence as though she was really thinking of moving her business. “That’s right. We move fresh produce in the form of cakes and honeycomb and also transport a lot of jars of honey all around the world.”
“A sweet business for a sweet lady,” Kauri quipped with a broad smile. She guessed he’d learned his sales patter from a group of elderly white men. The comparison made her mind feel tired, and her skin tighten, but she nodded and returned his smile.
“Our rates have been creeping up each year, more than inflation, so my partner and I thought it was time we had a look around to see what the competition had to offer.” Alice followed up her words with a matching gesture, spinning around on her chair to inspect her surrounds.
“Well, we’ve got a comparison sheet for easy reference,” Kauri said, handing the document over. “This ranks our prices alongside our leading three competitors, so you can see what a good deal we can offer.”
Alice took the pamphlet, then placed it on the edge of the table, crossing her hands in her lap. “Actually, I was expecting to speak to another of your colleagues? Darlene Stamp. We’d alrea
dy briefly discussed figures over the phone.”
Kauri nodded, waiting for Alice to add more information. She noted the space that gave her, it was a pleasant change from salesmen pushing facts and figures at her so quickly her mind spun into overload.
“I’m already familiar with the prices but what I really need to find out is the care your company takes. Both with the packages and with the businesses you deal with.” Alice leaned forward, steeling herself to look Kauri in the eye for a brief second without wincing. Mission accomplished, she sat back. “Over the years I’ve found the personal touch is what makes or breaks a good relationship.”
“Well, I can certainly testify we’re all about the customer. If you try us out, we’ll assign a personal rep to your company, so you can always get a friendly voice on the phone.”
Alice nodded, touching her finger lightly on the back of the comparison sheet for a second, then folding her hands together in her lap again. “It’s thrown me a bit,” she said, as though offering a confession. “Mostly because I began dealing with one rep and I’ve already been shunted onto another.”
“Well, anything Darlene can offer your business is what I offer you too.” Kauri produced his broad smile again, this time fraying a little at the edges. “I can assure you, that—barring unforeseen circumstances—you would never deal with someone who didn’t know your business inside and out.”
“What unforeseen circumstances?” Alice leaned forward, her knees pressing up against the front of Kauri’s desk. “Illness?”
He looked over his shoulder at the small window showing through to the reception area, then leaned forward. “We’re not meant to talk about it, but we suffered a loss of personal just yesterday, and it’s thrown us all for a loop.”
“Someone resigned?” Alice asked, feigning innocence.
Kauri shook his head. “No. I’m afraid a member of staff died. He’d been with the company for many years, and it’s all come as a bit of a shock.”
Alice tried to work out how far she could push her act. Already, her nerves were frazzled and probably wouldn’t stand up to the meeting much longer. If she couldn’t get information about Darlene from this man, then she would have wasted the entire trip. Apart from the price sheet, of course.
“Are you saying Darlene’s dead?” Alice asked in mock horror. “That’s dreadful.”
“No, not Darlene.” Kauri sat back, and the ghost of a sneer crossed over his lips. “As far as I know, she’s just taking a personal day to recover while the rest of us are soldiering through. No, it was Russell Thomson. You may have seen something about him on the news.”
“Wasn’t he Darlene’s boyfriend?” Alice asked quickly. When Kauri frowned at her, she added, “I’m sure she mentioned that when we spoke. No wonder she’s taken the day off sick if that’s the case.”
But Kauri gave a derisive snort. “Not a chance. Russell was married to a lovely wife. The idea Darlene was involved in a relationship with him was something that only existed inside her head.”
“Really?” Alice leaned in closer still. “So, she’s like one of those stalkers or something?” No wonder her intuition had been firing off on all cylinders. Darlene had been lying, after all.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kauri said, sticking his hand up in a warding off gesture. “Sure, she followed him around like a puppy dog sometimes, but it was a nuisance rather than a threat.”
“Is that the sort of behavior your workplace encourages?”
At that suggestion, Kauri Whitmore looked absolutely appalled. “No, certainly not!” He glanced over his shoulder, back to reception, then leaned in, so his face was only an inch away from Alice’s. “In fact, Darlene is currently being managed out of the company by our HR staff. She’s already got two strikes against her for inappropriate actions. A third strike, and she’ll be out.”
Kauri sat back, looking pleased with himself. “If you do want to use our business for your transport needs, then rest assured you’re in better hands with me looking after you than you ever would be with Darlene.”
Alice nodded and picked up the price comparison sheet. She stared at the numbers for a second while wondering if her next question was appropriate. After a moment, Alice decided it didn’t matter. If her behavior was out of bounds, it wasn’t like she’d ever have to see this man again.
“So, do you think Darlene Stamp killed Russell Thomson, then? Since the news is saying he was murdered.”
Kauri’s face twisted through a range of expressions, finally settling on confusion. “I shouldn’t tell you this,” he said, not even hesitating. “But if Darlene hadn’t been as sick as a dog on the weekend, then I would’ve been thinking along those lines myself.”
Chapter Twelve
As Alice drove back home, she mulled over the information Kauri had given her, both willingly and unwittingly. Due to the influx of queries on the weekends, the staff in customer service rotated working on Saturdays and Sundays, while taking another two days of the week in lieu for their weekend break.
Work had rostered Darlene on for the past weekend, but she’d called in sick on both those days. Kauri had been roped in to cover for her and thought the woman had been genuinely ill.
“Since she’s on such thin ice with management, pulling a sickie like that has to be confirmed with a medical certificate right from day one. If Darlene couldn’t produce one, then she’ll be out of a job. I don’t think she’s foolish enough to risk that just to get a couple of days off.”
Except Alice had seen no signs of any illness when she talked to Darlene, unless grief counted. It seemed a very odd coincidence she’d chosen that weekend to call in sick, then on the Monday morning, they’d found Russell dead.
It set all kinds of connections in Alice’s brain twanging.
Instead of heading back home, she decided the sergeant should be privy to this information as well. If they’d already discovered it for themselves, it wouldn’t matter, but Alice now believed Darlene had a lot of unanswered questions hanging over her head. If the police still had poor Betsy in the frame, then they should think about replacing her immediately.
Alice’s eyes gleamed as she thought about it. If her information led to the case being solved, she’d saved her bees all that discomfort just from a few hours of poking her nose about. Being a detective obviously wasn’t all that hard. Perhaps she could consider it as another career choice if her honey operation fell through.
When Alice arrived at the police station, she was in a far better mood than when she’d trodden the same steps the day before. “I need to talk to the sergeant,” she announced to the front desk.
“Which one?”
Alice looked around her as though she expected the man to be standing right there. She frowned and glanced back toward the officer behind the counter. “I’m not sure of his name, just that he was a sergeant. He’s in charge of the investigation into Russell Thomson’s murder.”
The policeman didn’t even have to look it up, he just nodded. “That’s DS Phillip Hogarth. If you take a seat, I’ll ring through and see if he’s available. What’s your name?”
“Alice Townsend.”
The man typed on his computer rather than picking up the phone. Alice wished she could implement a similar system. “He’s just busy at the moment. Would you like to leave a message and I’ll have him get in contact with you once he’s free?”
Alice shook her head before the officer even finished his sentence. “I need to talk to him in person,” she said. If she tried to put everything into a message, Alice felt certain she’d screw it up or leave out something important. “Can I wait until he’s free?”
“You can, but it might be a few hours.”
Alice looked up to the ceiling, thinking. The only concern was Chester, but he’d expect her to be gone most of the day. “That’s fine,” she said, nodding. “I don’t have any plans.”
Alice sat down and stared at her hands. Now the excitement of discovery was lessening, her brai
n wanted to twist and tear at everything she’d learned, trying to find new patterns to fit it into. If she let it, by the time the sergeant could hear her out, she’d have a dozen—a hundred—different versions of what it all could mean, each one crazier than the last.
The connections her mind made might be great for sorting out crossword puzzles or drawing together threads of data to combine into a different whole, but it burrowed in on itself if left to its own devices too long. Alice needed a distraction.
A minute after thinking that, one of the inner doors opened and Betsy Thomson walked out, a free woman. Alice’s mouth opened in surprise. Here she was, with information at the ready to get the woman exonerated and she hadn’t even needed her help.
Even more surprising, a few seconds after that development, the front door to the station opened, and Darlene Stamp walked through, escorted by two officers, with her wrists in cuffs.
Darn it, but Alice was good. She’d tracked along her own path, and it led to exactly the same destination as the police had followed. She jumped up in excitement, clapping her hands together as though she was at a play that had just reached the highlight of the show. Betsy turned around at the sound, and her eyes widened as she saw Darlene standing in the lobby.
“You hussy,” she yelled, running at the woman, hands bunching into fists. The officers moved Darlene out of the way and stood as a protective shield to stop Betsy’s attack until the inner door opened to let them through. “You killed my husband. I hope you rot in jail forever!”
Her shouts soon descended into sobs, and Betsy walked over to sit down as the tears kept falling. Alice pulled a travel pack of tissues out of her bag and offered them to the woman, who accepted them gratefully.
When Betsy got herself back under control, she cast a curious glance at Alice. “What are you doing here?”
“I was waiting for the sergeant,” Alice admitted. “But now I don’t think they need my information. Do you want a lift home?”
The Buzz Kill Page 6