Cat Killed A Rat (Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series Book 1)

by ReGina Welling

The Wiggle Leg trail was the most direct route since it cut straight through the woods to bypass a mile-long twisted section of road that took only marginally less time to drive than to walk.

  EV handed Chloe a spare umbrella and a bottle of water before striding off at a pace the younger woman had to push a little to maintain. Not surprising since Chloe’s legs were almost a foot shorter.

  Chloe refused to be outdone, so she picked up the pace.

  EV lengthened her stride.

  Chloe walked faster.

  By the time they reached the center of town, both women were glowing from the effort.

  “Was that a walk or a forced march?” Chloe bent double to stretch out tingling muscles.

  “Just think, you won’t have to get on that hamster wheel you call a treadmill and trudge along to nowhere later,” EV smirked.

  “Bite me.”

  The sight of the church spire in the distance sobered the pair of them. A man had died there. True, he was not one of their favorite people, but neither of them had wished for his death.

  “How are we going to get in?” Chloe asked. It might have sounded like a good idea at the time, but breaking into a church would probably ensure she went straight to hell. “You think one of the windows will be open?”

  “Maybe. Or we could just use this key,” EV pulled a small brass key from her pocket.

  “Fine, do it the easy way.”

  Even from where they stood at the end of the street, the bright yellow crime scene tape stood out in stark relief against the weathered, gray wood exterior of the church. A wall of heavy blue storm clouds hunkered behind the white spire like something evil waiting to pounce.

  Chloe shivered.

  Focused straight ahead, EV strode toward the church, and making no effort at concealing herself or her intent, twisted the key in the lock then ducked under the yellow tape to push the door open.

  Evidence tampering.

  That’s what she would be charged with; Chloe wasn’t looking forward to going to jail.

  She followed EV who seemed to know exactly where she was going.

  In the end, there was nothing much to see. Scattered tools and an overturned ladder were the only items marking the spot where Luther had died.

  “Epic anti-climax,” Chloe pointed out.

  “You think so?” EV waved a hand toward where the ladder lay folded. “I’ve learned at least two things already.”

  “What?” Maybe it was trepidation keeping her normally keen mind obscured, but Chloe saw nothing suggestive in the scene that lay before her.

  “We’ve been assuming the murderer pushed Luther off the ladder; but, if that had been the case, the ladder would still be standing. Plus, it would have had to be facing this direction,” she indicated the only space wide enough to have held the ladder with both legs spread “So it had to have been pushed over sideways. I know from personal experience how rickety this ladder can be; it was my turn to change the light bulbs last month, and Luther loaned it to the church.” A touch of sorrow crept into her voice, “He was always good about that kind of thing.” It was the first time since the news of his death that she had really taken the time to think about their community losing one of their own. Hapless and short-sighted though he was, Luther, at the bottom of it all, was not such a bad guy.

  “And there’s no way it was an accident?”

  From behind her, Nate answered Chloe’s question, “That’s what we professionals are paid to determine.”

  “Busted.”

  “Totally,” Nate agreed. “Breaking and entering, tampering with evidence, public nuisance,” he ticked offenses off wryly.

  “I have a key, so I don’t think you can make the B&E stick. I’m pretty sure you can’t get us for public nuisance,” Ev held out her wrists, “we haven’t touched a thing. But go ahead and arrest me, Nathaniel. It wouldn’t be my first time.”

  Making a note to grill EV for details at her earliest convenience, Chloe stepped forward to lay a hand on Nate’s forearm. She ignored the tingle of warmth that traveled through her fingertips where they lay over strong muscles. “There’s no reason to do anything hasty.”

  Dalton walked through the door, hands streaming with the yellow tape he had been instructed to pull down from outside. Catching sight of the tableau before him, he carelessly tossed the tape down on the last pew and hurried toward where Nate and EV faced off.

  “Let’s everybody calm down, now.” Any chance of his getting a date with EV would fly out the window if Nate clapped the cuffs on her. “We were coming here to take down the tape so Pastor could open up for Sunday anyway. Cut them some slack.”

  “A good lawyer would get the charges dropped anyway.” Chloe hoped this was true.

  Nate grinned and the tension fell away. “I was just trying to give her a scare. Besides, I know EV wouldn’t have called just any lawyer; she’d have done something much worse. She would have called…”

  “…his mother,” EV finished for him.

  Chapter 12

  Chloe threw a bundle of dried sage into the center of the fire pit, leaned in and inhaled deeply as the scented smoke curled around her face. One by one she lit the torches encircling the small patio situated in a secluded corner of her backyard. An ancient fence covered in clematis and honeysuckle bordered the area on two sides. Pathways led to the house in one direction and through a break in the fence toward EV’s backyard in another. Since Chloe moved back to town, that path had widened and become worn with use as it had been when her mother lived here.

  “Speak of the devil,” Chloe mused with a grin as EV appeared next to her.

  “I brought stuff for s’mores!” EV replied.

  “Traditional or peanut butter cup?”

  “Both, of course.” EV rolled her eyes. “Not my first campfire.”

  Chloe stuck her tongue out at her friend.

  “It’s not so dark I can’t see that. So who do we think dunnit? Evan? Talia? Some shadowy figure from Luther’s past? Or just a ticked off customer who didn’t like the way he installed their bathroom tile?” EV began.

  “Don’t be so flip; people think YOU dunnit, and that’s nothing to smile about.”

  “People in this place know it wasn’t me. And since I didn’t do it, the best we can hope for is to help Nate and Dalton figure who did. Do we agree that it had to be someone who was at the town meeting the other night?”

  Taking a moment to ponder, Chloe answered, “I think that’s what everyone is thinking, which in itself makes me suspicious. I suppose we should consider motives and then run through the list of likeliest suspects. But, I have to say, it gives me the creeps in a big way to think one of us would do something like that. This is Ponderosa Pines, after all, and …”

  “Nothing bad ever happens in Ponderosa Pines.” They sing-songed together.

  She pulled out her tablet and sent EV back home for hers before selecting a plump marshmallow and poking it through the center with the end of a stick. They did this so often Chloe had cut and sharpened special s’mores sticks from a stand of alders that bordered the far edge of her yard. These were now tucked into a basket near the edge of the patio.

  No stranger to technology, EV kept up to date with her electronic devices. Where she differed from Chloe was that she preferred human contact to the techno variety. She got her gossip straight from the source whenever possible so she could evaluate the body language that went along with it. Yet, she would not argue that people often felt protected by the seeming anonymity of the Internet and let things slip that they never would admit to in person. The result? Between the two of them, they learned just about everything of interest that ever happened in Ponderosa Pines. They heard plenty of things that were not interesting as well, come to that.

  EV began noting down names beginning with those who never failed to turn out for every town meeting. Most were long-term residents with a higher stake in how decisions were made—business owners, founding family members—or out and out busybodies w
ho could not bear to have anything happen without them knowing every detail.

  Chloe produced the copy of the community census she had begun marking up before her dinner with Nate. “Well, I think we can safely cross your fan club, the Landry’s, Horis, and Priscilla off the list, since I can’t imagine how any of their lives would change with Luther gone.”

  “And I heard Celia and Bert going at it half the night that night.”

  “Fighting?” Chloe smelled gossip.

  “No, the other thing.” A cheeky grin accompanied EV’s waggling eyebrows.

  “Oh. Ew.”

  “Bert has a surprising amount of stamina for a man his age.”

  Laughing but holding up a hand, Chloe declared, “TMI. Seriously. Just way too much information.”

  Nodding, EV crossed the two names off the list, but couldn’t resist adding, “Celia’s a bit of a screamer.”

  “Why? Why would you tell me that? You have to stop. Really.”

  “Put that in your column. I dare you.” Another eyebrow waggle garnered EV a set of rolling eyes.

  “Enough of that. I mean it. No more mental images that I will never be able to unsee.”

  “Okay, back to our list.” An unrepentant EV tapped the stylus on the screen thoughtfully, “Goes without saying Talia and Evan take the top two places.”

  “You think?”

  “Love and money are the main reasons for killing someone; and if Talia and Evan really are doing the wild thing on the side, they’d have the most reason for shoving poor Luther off a ladder.”

  “Nate says he’s sure it wasn’t either one of them.”

  “Then we need to see some evidence. Don’t get me wrong, I know the boy means well and he’s good at his job, but we have the deeper insights and way better contacts then he does. If anyone is going to solve this, it’ll be us.”

  “True.” Chloe handed EV a peanut butter cup s’more, exchanged it for the tablet, and jotted down the names of some of Luther’s disgruntled former clients. “Here’s what strikes me funny about all this: I can’t see Evan and Talia together. Okay, I might have seen it, assuming it was Talia in that scarf at the diner, but I don’t know; it doesn’t make much sense at all. He’s just not the settle-down type, and she totally is.”

  “I thought she and Luther seemed happy. She’s always so meek and subdued; I can’t see her getting up the gumption to kill her husband. It just feels all kinds of wrong.”

  “The way they were dancing the other night seemed plenty happy. Maybe a little too happy for a public venue.”

  Chapter 13

  On the day of Luther’s funeral, thick fog descended to lay like a pall over Ponderosa Pines: its mass so dense the air struggled to carry its moist weight. From above, the church spire was the only visible landmark as it speared through the heavy vapor that lay close along the ground.

  Knuckles white on the steering wheel and a tension headache threatening, Chloe hunched forward in an effort to see two feet beyond the nose of her car while beads of moisture continually formed on her windshield.

  From the normally throaty purr of the car’s engine to the clicking of the wiper blades, every sound was muted as though the blanket of heavy mist had actually been made of the white wool it resembled.

  “You think there’ll be a big turnout?” Chloe ignored the way EV’s foot kept punching the imaginary passenger-side brake. Maybe a little conversation would help break the tension.

  “Well, you know funerals are always a big deal here in the Pines; but with Luther being murdered and the church being the crime scene, it will be packed to the rafters.”

  “Which means the murderer will be in attendance, then.”

  “I think we can count on it, so keep your eyes and ears open.”

  “Duh, gossip columnist, remember? My eyes and ears are always open.”

  “Deer!” EV shouted.

  “I see it.” Chloe stomped the brake hard. She kept the car at little more than a crawl, but the sudden stop still set her heart racing and the pies lining the back seat skittering very close to the edge. The doe stared at them for a moment before meandering out of harm’s way.

  What was normally a five-minute walk had taken nearly three times that to drive. Why had they thought bringing four kinds of pie was a good idea?

  Since they were arriving almost an hour early for the service and more people would be walking than driving, Chloe easily found a parking spot close to the church. Offering to help with setting up had been her idea, and it was a good one. The more time spent with Talia, the better the chance she might let some useful information slip.

  Plus, it was a lead-pipe cinch that her sister, loud-mouth Lottie, would be there and that woman couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it. Maybe they could learn something new about the ongoing feud between the sisters while appearing sympathetic for Talia’s loss.

  Two steps from the car, they could already hear her booming voice berating the widow for her choice of casket. “It doesn’t go with the flowers. Honestly, Talia, you have the worst taste. If it had to be gray, you could at least have gone with charcoal instead of this ugly silver color.”

  “I don’t recall asking for your opinion, you fat cow; so maybe you should keep it to yourself.” Talia’s normally meek voice screeched through the window.

  Chloe and EV exchanged wide-eyed grins. Apparently becoming a widow had turned Talia from a mouse to a lion.

  “Well, I never.” Lottie’s voice rang out with shock.

  Talia snorted. “Well, maybe you should. It would improve your temperament and probably clear up that skin problem.”

  Chloe clapped a hand over her mouth to keep the giggle from escaping while EV’s grin just got wider. Now this was a side of Talia she could grow to like. At the sound of footsteps approaching, both women pasted on their best serious expressions and managed to wipe away the last vestiges of mirth before an angry Lottie burst through the door to enter the vestibule. She scowled at seeing EV standing there, then shot her nose into the air and marched out of the church.

  Before they could turn and walk through the door, Chloe and EV heard Talia speaking to Luther where he lay amid the coffin pillows. “I’m sorry you had to hear that, Luther. I know you’ve always expected me to turn the other cheek, but today I’ve run out of cheeks.” Emotion choked her voice, “Now, you sleep easy and don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

  Waiting until Talia fell silent, EV finally pushed through the doors, and with Chloe following her, stepped into the church proper. The widow stood head down with one hand resting on Luther’s where they lay folded; the perfect picture of heartbreak.

  Until now, it hadn’t occurred to either of them that Talia might be among the small contingent who considered EV a suspect in Luther’s death. So when Chloe moved forward to offer a consoling hug, EV remained behind to gauge Talia’s reaction.

  After gratefully accepting the hug, Talia, eyes brimming, crossed over to where EV still stood and practically launched herself into EV’s arms, which answered the question quite nicely.

  “What am I going to do now? Luther was my whole life,” she wailed.

  Genuinely sorry for the woman, EV hugged her hard. “I’m so sorry, Talia. What can we do to help?”

  Chloe looked around the room; everything seemed ready. The casket sat amid a pitifully small selection of flower arrangements, which seemed sad considering the number of people who would soon be crowding the pews. The pulpit was stationed near where Luther’s head rested and at his feet stood a small table with a video memorial scrolling endlessly through a lifetime of photos.

  To the casual observer, the images would be little more than a catalog of a life sadly shortened; but to Chloe, who had more experience in reading body language than most, they showed an innocent child becoming an increasingly unhappy boy before growing into a hardened man. Only in the photos of him with Talia did she see anything soft or loving; in those, he became a different person altogether. One
she actually felt sorry for.

  Visibly calmer than when they had arrived, Talia answered, “There’s really nothing left to do, so if you could just sit with me for a little while…” The slamming open of the door heralded Lottie’s re-entry as she stalked back to where her sister sat.

  “I’ll forgive you that last remark because I know you’re distraught,” she announced. “Anyone would be under the circumstances.”

  Before Talia had time to respond, the door opened again and the first of the mourners made their way toward the front of the church. Talia stood to greet them while EV quietly asked Lottie, “Where’s Evan? Shouldn’t he be here?”

  “He’s probably outside waiting to make an entrance,” contempt dripped from every word. “All he seems to care about is whether or not Luther left a will. He’s hardly said a word to Talia otherwise.” Her contempt for Luther and his family was well known. She settled her black-clad self upon the pew next to EV and Chloe. “Did she tell you about the notes?” Her voice lowered to a stage whisper. “Someone has been blackmailing Evan.”

  Chloe and EV’s eyes met; finally, some interesting news.

  EV chose her words carefully so as not to be seen trying to pry, “How do you know? Have you told the police? They’re the best ones to handle something like this.”

  “I hear things, but I don’t always tell everything I know.”

  That was the last chance for private conversation before a combination of actual mourners and curiosity seekers filled the pews. It was easy to tell the difference. Those who truly felt Luther’s loss made their way up front where Talia stood in unrelieved black to give their condolences, while the looky-loos filed into their seats and gossiped in furious whispers about how Luther had died and who might have had motive to kill him. EV garnered more than her fair share of speculative looks.

  Evan was one of the last to approach the casket. He moved slowly, shoulders sagging with exaggerated grief in what could only be construed as an attempt to garner sympathy from prospective supporters. EV knew him well enough to know that it wasn’t all posturing, but was so disgusted with the act that she couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry for him.