Berry Murderous

by Katherine Hayton

  “It’s like my entire life has gone on hold until this house is sorted out.” Shelby looked at the connecting door as if it were the grim reaper, scythe in hand. “Until I can get this fixed, I can’t see my way to having anything nice.”

  “Are you able to put some temporary repairs into place?”

  Shelby shook her head. “The unsealed floorboards introduced so much moisture into the house it’s gotten everywhere. The last inspection showed the mold was advancing. My best bet is to tear down the whole thing and start again.”

  Shelby closed her eyes, the strain clear in the slumped defeat of her shoulders and the deep lines in her forehead that shouldn’t exist there at her age.

  “Do you have a job opening up?” Shelby asked, eyes popping open. “I used to do a lot of waitressing work, back in my hometown. I’m good with people.” She gave a rueful smile down at the stained shirt and torn jeans that she’d opened the door wearing. “And I scrub up nicely, despite appearances.”

  Willow was taken by surprise. Her mind had been so fixed on getting through the weeks of the extension being built she hadn’t given much thought to what would come afterward.

  Of course, she would need staff. Maybe one or two to start with but that might expand into a small team. They would need uniforms—or a dress code—and Willow would have to pay them.

  Oh, goodness. There was so much Willow hadn’t thought about. With staff would come a payroll system and then the business would need a balance sheet and accounting systems and taxes and rebates and expenses and claims.

  Willow would not only need to train employees, but she also needed to work out the procedures her staff would be trained on. There would have to be standards—on the amount of leaves in a pot or the level of liquid to pour into a cup. She hadn’t even sorted out what brand of china she’d be serving the tea to her customers in!

  Shelby gave a small laugh, snapping Willow back to the present.

  “What?”

  After a short struggle, Shelby got her face back on straight. “You looked like I’d asked you to kill your mother. If you don’t have a job available, that’s okay. It was a long shot.”

  “I do,” Willow insisted. “Or, at least, I think I should. I just realized there’s a whole heap of stuff I never gave the slightest thought to and now I’m sure my venture will be an unmitigated disaster.”

  Mavis ran over, perhaps sensing Willow’s mood had taken a treacherous turn downward. The kitten rubbed her forehead against the side of Willow’s ankle, making her laugh.

  “I will say, yes you can have a job, but you have to say how much I should pay you.” Willow turned to Shelby, who rewarded her with a shy smile. “You’ll also need to tell me what hours are appropriate for someone to work in the job you’ll have, and what they should wear. In fact, you should come over to my place as soon as the builders finish so we can work out a plan.”

  “Really?”

  Shelby looked so happy at the same ideas that were giving Willow conniptions, she emphatically nodded. “Yes, really. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m beginning to realize how far out of my depth I am. It’ll be nice to have someone to advise me—on anything!”

  Shelby knocked her cup against Willow’s in a small toast, sealing the deal. “When will the builders be finished with your place?”

  As one bubble was pressed down on Willow’s wall of worry, another popped out.

  “I don’t know. My friend Reg—do you know him?”

  Shelby shook her head.

  “Well, he’s organizing some fellows to go around the town and check on the state of all the building work—finished and incomplete—that Jeff Waterman had a hand in. Once they sign my stuff off, I’ll need to talk to a lawyer about the contract. Apparently, all my money is being held somewhere until the job’s finished and I don’t know what I have to do now that won’t happen.”

  “Hm. The inspections sound like a good idea.”

  Willow buttoned her lip at that moment, realizing she’d been about to tell Shelby the proceeds of the inspections would be flowing directly to her. It was Reg’s brainchild, so it needed to be him that gave her the good news.

  “Anyway, Lee and Charley have offered to finish up the job, just the two of them. As long as I can sort out the contract side, I’ve agreed to accept their offer.”

  “That all sounds like a fine plan.”

  The note of sadness in Shelby’s voice sounded an alarm in Willow. You’re meant to be cheering her up!

  Without the authority to talk about Reg’s plan, Willow went back to her original idea and tossed a ball of string out for Mavis. The kitten took to the effort with gusto, ending up so tangled in the strands she could barely move.

  “I think we’d better cut you free, little one,” Willow said when Mavis’s expression of contentment changed to one of panic. “Would you be able to hold her steady while I snip?”

  Shelby cradled Mavis to her chest, giving the kitten a tiny kiss on her nose when she looked up in appreciation. Willow took a lot longer than she needed to set the animal free.

  “There we go,” she announced at last, quickly gathering up the wool before Mavis could launch into another head-on attack. “I think you’ve had quite enough of that for one day!”

  This time, Shelby laughed along with her. The woman’s anxiety lifting, if only for the few minutes she spent entertained by the cat.

  “Now, you must stay in touch,” Willow ordered as she packed Mavis back into the car. “I’m going to start a list tonight called ‘all the things I haven’t thought of’ and I’ll call up and ask you about every single one of them. So be warned.”

  Shelby laughed and gave Willow a salute. “Aye-aye, captain. I used to run a team back in my hometown of Wilber Pines, so I can probably help out a little. Just don’t expect miracles. I don’t know all the business lingo you’ll need.”

  “Business lingo can go and get hanged, I want plain English, thank you very much.” Willow rolled down the window and poked her head out to continue the conversation. “It really means a lot to me that you’re willing to help me out with this. I can’t even begin to guess all the things I don’t know.”

  Shelby reached into the car and gave a quick squeeze of Willow’s shoulder. “You can’t imagine how much it means to me to have something to look forward to.”

  “We’ll make a great team, then.”

  Mavis interrupted with a meow to remind Willow she was hungry, thirsty, or wanted to hit the road. She waved goodbye to Shelby as the woman went back indoors, then on a whim, pulled to the side of the road as she neared the pier.

  “I’ll just be two ticks,” Willow told Mavis, getting out of the car.

  The softening afternoon light caught the small ripples of the river and turned it into a dancing crystal display. Willow walked along the full length of the pier, sitting at the end and dropping her legs over the side. She looked up and down the stream at the houses that backed onto the water. After a few minutes, she closed her eyes, wondering what Reg felt as he sat in this exact same spot.

  Something completely different, no doubt.

  Even from the end of the pier, Willow felt Mavis’s anxiety reach her. She turned and saw the kitten with both paws flat on the window, face pressing close to the glass.

  She waved again, hoping Mavis could see that far, then mounted a battle with her rickety knees as she stood up.

  Willow had turned, ready to give one last goodbye to the pier when her eye caught a flash of metal in the long grass to the side. Probably a can, she thought, leaning forward to investigate. Willow hated litter, but some people still thought it was okay to mess up the streets of their town.

  Strange. It definitely wasn’t an empty can. Willow picked up a stick to hold back the ends of the grass to get an unobstructed view. The brief glimpse she’d had was enough to warn her not to touch.

  A hammer.

  Willow was about to shake her head with annoyance—almost had her hand on the t
ool—when another sight registered.

  Blood. There was blood on the head of the hammer.

  Willow took a step back, gasping in fright as she realized she’d discovered the murder weapon.

  Chapter Eleven

  Mavis became more vocal the longer Willow sat in the car, but she couldn’t leave. One call to the sheriff’s office, and they’d sent out a small team, combing the area and placing up thick, yellow tape to warn passersby from coming near.

  “I still don’t understand how you saw it,” Sheriff Wender grumbled.

  Willow sighed and only just stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She didn’t want to be disrespectful, but the man really hadn’t changed much since high school. From the moment she called him, Jacob had been treating her like a suspect instead of someone doing their public service.

  “I caught a flash of metal,” Willow repeated for the third—or was it the fourth?—time. “I don’t know why. The sun hit it at the right angle, I suppose.”

  “Hm.”

  Sheriff Wender gave her the side-eye and Mavis bared her teeth at him. Good girl.

  “I didn’t put the hammer there, Sheriff, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “I’m not implying anything. I find it strange that you ‘happened’ to find the body, and now you’ve just ‘happened’ to find the murder weapon.” The sheriff performed air quotes around the words, adding a gentle whirl of insult to his implication.

  “Believe me,” Willow answered him with a stern look, “I regret both of those discoveries more than you know. If I could go back in time and not find a dead body or a hammer covered in someone’s blood, don’t you think I’d do that?”

  “Sheriff?” One of the deputies hailed him with a hand and Jacob wandered over. He peered at the new discovery for a few seconds, then shook his head.

  Willow hoped the sheriff would move over to another of his men, keeping a check on their progress, but no such luck. He angled straight back to her, as though she were a magnet.

  “There’s really nothing more I can tell you.” Willow patted Mavis, hoping her irritation wouldn’t transfer to the kitten. “I saw the hammer, I saw the blood, I called you, I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry about?”

  “That I’ve been stuck here for the last hour explaining myself to you when you obviously don’t want to listen.”

  Willow’s glare turned to an expression of horror as she realized the words had escaped from her mouth. For a moment, she thought Sheriff Wender was about to unleash the full weight of his authority, but then his body relaxed, and he laughed.

  “It’s always a pleasure, Miss Foxglove.” He banged his palm twice on the roof of her car. “Why don’t you move along, and if I need anything further, I’ll give you a call.”

  “That was a close one,” Willow muttered to Mavis as she started up the car and made good her escape. The deputies were now embarking on a fingertip search of the area around the pier. Given the length of the wild grass and the increasing muddiness down by the water, Willow pitied them.

  “I should make them all a nice pot of tea and bring it down here in thermoses,” she told Mavis, who gave her a look of utter disgust.

  Willow nodded. “Good point, kitten. Perhaps it would be better if I returned home and stayed well clear of this mess.”

  A new plan in place, she proceeded to do just that.

  It didn’t take long after they’d found the weapon—with Willow’s help—for the sheriff’s office to make an arrest. A few minutes later, the news spread around the town of Aniseed Valley, passing from one person to another like a virulent cold.

  After the third phone call to pass on the latest gossip, Willow considered unplugging her phone to get some peace. It was great news that Reg was in the clear—even though the sheriff hadn’t brought him in again, she’d continued to worry. It was less great news about the man Sheriff Wender had arrested for the crime.

  Charley Lacy.

  When Harmony knocked on the door, Reg in tow, Willow plastered a smile on her face that both friends immediately saw through.

  “What on Earth is the matter?” Harmony asked, leading her through to the lounge while Reg busied himself in the kitchen.

  “I’m just an idiot.” Willow sank into the cushions with relief, her legs had been shaking since she’d first heard the news. “I really thought Charley was one of the good ones. Even after I overheard the bank officer saying he’d stolen money from his boss, I thought there’d be a reasonable explanation.”

  “Oh, honey.” Harmony stroked Willow’s back while it shook from the force of her tears. “I didn’t even realize you two were close.”

  “We’re not.” Willow shook her head. “That’s why my current performance is ridiculous. I barely know the man. I just—”

  She broke off as a new wave of tears caught her. Since her friends had probably come over to celebrate Reg’s freedom from suspicion, she was dampening their parade.

  “You just what?”

  Willow sniffed, aware she was being foolish but unable to help herself. “I liked his British accent. It made me feel safe.”

  Reg, who’d entered the room with a tray of tea things, opened his eyes wide but kept his mouth buttoned.

  Harmony just shrugged. “Who knows why we like the people we like. It’s no more ridiculous to enjoy someone for their accent than it is to admire the color of someone’s eyes or hair.”

  Willow wiped her eyes. As always, when her friends were near she felt understood. A hard task considering that half the time, she didn’t understand herself.

  “Still,” Willow said, “it’s great news that the sheriff won’t be bothering you any longer, Reg. I remember when he had the claws out for me over Roger’s death—even though it came to nothing it was distinctly unpleasant.”

  “It has been that,” Reg agreed. “I haven’t been able to go out on a spotting mission since it happened. I’ve been lying in bed, unable to sleep, letting all the alien craft pass by unseen.”

  “Well, I hope you’re planning for a big session tonight.” Willow nodded her head firmly. “The best thing is to get back on track straight away.”

  “You can count on it.” Reg smiled as he took a sip of tea. “There’s a clear forecast, so I’m going up to Wallace Hill and try to take in everything.”

  Wallace Hill sat behind the town of Aniseed Valley, offering visitors a complete overview of the area if they were game enough to climb it. No roads traveled up its steep face—instead you were left to mount it by foot, following in the footsteps of the nimble sheep and goats who populated the sides.

  “That sounds like a fitting adventure to end off this tale.” Harmony patted Reg on the shoulder. “I hope you get something exciting.”

  “Even if I don’t, it’ll be nice to sit out underneath the stars again for a while.”

  Willow shivered, then burst out laughing. “You’re making me feel cold just thinking about it.”

  “I won’t be cold,” Reg said. “I’ve got my thermal underwear, my wool shirt, my sweater, then my waterproof coat. More likely, by the time I get up high enough to get a good view, I’ll be boiling!”

  “I talked to Shelby today,” Willow said. “She’s going to help me out with a plan for staffing and things for when the builders get around to finishing off everything here.”

  “You didn’t tell—”

  Willow cut Reg off with a raised hand. “No, I didn’t. But I think you should go around and give her the low down on what you’re planning soon.” She sighed. “That’s a woman who needs a burst of good news.”

  As Reg opened his mouth to answer, a knock came on the door.

  When Willow answered, she was surprised to see Lee standing on the other side, looking utterly distraught.

  “I didn’t know where else to go to,” Lee exclaimed, wringing his hands together. “I can’t believe Charley would ever do anything like what the sheriff said. It’s just not in his nature.”

  The color
in Lee’s cheeks was a furious red, and he looked about to explode in tears or fury. Willow ushered him inside, settling him down on the sofa where she’d been sitting while she went to fetch a cup of calming tea.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news, either,” Willow admitted, returning to the room with a piping hot beverage. She pulled a chair close and patted Lee on his knee. “Charley always appeared to be mild-mannered. It’s hard to imagine him getting worked up to the point of yelling at someone, let alone killing them.”

  “I knew you’d understand.” Lee wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Harmony wrinkled her nose and fetched him a box of tissues.

  “What do you think happened?” Reg looked with keen eyes at the young man. “It’s not enough to feel things when the sheriff is involved. We need some kind of evidence if we’re going to get your man out of that cell.”

  Lee nodded, straightening his back and lifting his head high. “I don’t know what evidence Sheriff Wender compiled to press charges, but it can’t be right. I’m sure we can come up with something to prove he didn’t do it.”

  Reg nodded, his expression stern. “The police have a hammer with Charley’s name engraved on the handle, covered in the victim’s blood.”

  Willow gasped, holding a hand up to her mouth. “I didn’t realize. I found that hammer down by the pier earlier today!”

  A wave of guilt crashed down over her. She should have left it alone. Why did she have to go out there in the first place?

  “It’s not your fault,” Harmony said, apparently knowing the signs well enough to head off Willow’s anxiety. “If it’s Charley’s hammer, then the fact you found it isn’t the problem. It’s him using it, that is.”

  “But he didn’t,” Lee insisted. “I told you it went missing, didn’t I?”

  He raised his eyebrows at Willow, who remembered part of their earlier conversation with relief. “You said some of Charley’s tools were stolen off a building site.”