“Fine, you’re right,” Cat admitted. “We can’t tell him.”
“Besides, it’s not like Chase is a bad cop,” Peaches added. “I’m sure he’ll manage to find the information out on his own, and it will probably be easier than causing a flood in an office building.”
I laughed. “Is that what you did?”
Peaches looked a little bit abashed. “I really only wanted to make it look like the sprinkler system malfunctioned. Apparently, I was a little bit… overly enthusiastic. Don’t tell Grandma Cee.”
“You have my word,” I replied with a smile on my lips. “So now, is Carl our main suspect?”
Cat nodded. “I think so, yes. If Carl Green figured out that Brian was embezzling, that’s a pretty good reason to kill him, don’t you think? I mean, we didn’t add up the numbers completely, but it had to be half a million dollars a year, right?”
“At least,” I answered. “Plus, being business partners, Carl would be the most likely person to know where Brian kept his gun, and presumably he would have been in Brian’s home regularly enough to steal it.”
“For sure. And to hang on to the gun for three months before using it, that takes a lot of patience. That sounds like Carl planned the crime, he didn’t just kill Brian in the spur of the moment,” Peaches said.
“Absolutely. We need to speak to Carl, see how he ended up on the train,” I said.
“Why don’t we go on an adventure tour?” Cat asked. “Monday’s just a couple days away, and your bookshop is closed. I can spend a few hours away from the coffee shop; it’s been on the slower side the last week or so anyway. I know Carl really enjoys doing the zip line tours himself, so if we book one there’s a good chance he’ll be one of the guides.”
“Sure,” I replied. After all, I hadn’t really had the chance to do a lot of the standard touristy things in town, and I’d seen a few ads for zip lining. It looked fun, zipping through the forest at over sixty miles an hour, overlooking the gorgeous waters of Sapphire Lake.
“Then it’s settled. Monday we’ll go do that.”
“And Tuesday is the funeral,” Peaches said. “We should go there as well. You know, see what information we can dig up. The gossip mill will be in full effect there.”
“Good plan,” Cat said as I dished up the spaghetti into bowls and topped them with grated parmesan. We now had two viable suspects, one of whom was a lot more suspicious than the other. I was fairly certain that Carl Green was our murderer. Now we just had to prove it.
Eleven
I had never really been an adrenaline junky. I mean sure, once when I was a kid we went to Six Flags, and I’d made sure to ride all the roller coasters, but I was ten years old and who doesn’t like roller coasters when they’re ten. But I’d definitely never been the type to get into extreme sports or anything like that. Watching people do crazy things on YouTube was all the adrenaline I needed.
That was probably why, when Monday came around, I found myself feeling nervous about the day’s planned events. Cat had booked us for a morning adventure, and we were leaving from the main bus loop right off Main Street just after ten.
I had planned on meeting Cat at the bus loop, and made my way there. There were about five other people hanging around, and I assumed they were on our tour as well. As soon as Cat saw me she waved enthusiastically, a huge grin on her face. Evidently, she didn’t share the same fears I did.
“Ready?” she asked, practically bounding over to me.
“Definitely!” I replied, trying to stick a brave smile on my face.
“You’re terrified, aren’t you?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You look like Archibald.”
“Great. Fine, I’m a little bit nervous.”
“Don’t be, no one has died on these zip lines in a few years.” I looked up at my cousin in alarm, who started to laugh. “Ok, I’m lying. Don’t worry. No one has ever died on one of these.”
“What about being maimed permanently?”
“Nope, never.”
“Maimed temporarily?”
“Nope. Seriously. Zip lines are safe. Safe, and fun! Trust me.”
Well, it certainly couldn’t be worse than my attempt at flying a broomstick, I reasoned as the bus with a large Sapphire Adventure Tours decal on the side pulled up to the bus loop. A tanned guy in his early twenties with shaggy blond hair jumped out of the driver’s seat, wearing khakis and a polo shirt with the company logo on it.
“G’day, welcome to Sapphire Adventure Tours,” he said in a strong Australian accent. “I’m Chazza, and I’ll be one of your guides today. Who’s here for the zip line tour?” he asked, and the small group of people hanging around all quietly muttered yes.
“Great! Please feel free to get on the bus now, and just make sure I get your name before you get on,” he said, grabbing an old clipboard with a list of names attached to it. Cat practically shoved me to the front of the line.
“Alice Calliope,” I said, “and my cousin Cat.”
“Cat and Alice. Welcome! First time zip lining?” I nodded yes. “Well great! You’re going to have a great time, I promise you that.”
I had to admit, Chazza’s enthusiasm was a little bit infectious, and as we sat down on one of the seats on the bus, with Cat taking the one next to me, my nerves began to dissipate a little bit. After all, Chazza wouldn’t be so enthusiastic if he thought he was going to die today, would he?
A few minutes later the others had piled onto the bus as well. There was another couple, and an older couple being treated to this adventure by their son, who insisted they would love it.
As the bus sped toward the zip lining area, I looked out the window and enjoyed the scenery. The bus took a small dirt road that afforded the occasional view of the gorgeous Sapphire Lake. The sun was out in force today, and its rays danced along the water, giving it a shining effect. I absolutely understood where the name came from now.
Ten minutes later Chazza parked the bus and we were led out to the entrance. A large sign welcomed us to Sapphire Adventure Tours zip lining, and standing underneath the sign was the man I recognized as being Carl Green. He had a smile on his face.
“Welcome to Sapphire Adventure Tours zip lines!” he announced. “I’m Carl Green, the owner of the company, here to make sure you have an awesome time! Who’s excited to go fast?”
There were some half-enthusiastic mumbles, no one in the group wanting to be the ones to stand out, but that didn’t stop Carl.
“Great! If you follow me, we’ll get going. It’s only a few hundred feet to the first zip line access area.”
Cat and I stepped into line with Carl as he kept walking. “Hey Cat, what brings you here today?” Carl asked.
“Well this is Alice, my cousin. Since she’s new to town, I figured we should do all the awesome touristy things, and zip lining is definitely one of them.”
“Absolutely! Welcome, Alice,” Carl told me. “How have you been enjoying Sapphire Village?”
“Oh, I love it!” I said. “Other than the murders, of course. I think I recognize you, you were also on the train when Brian was killed, right?” I asked innocently. Carl’s face darkened.
“I was, I’m sorry you had to be there too. That’s a real tragedy. Brian was a good business partner, and a good friend. He’s already missed.”
“Everyone in town is saying Isabella did it,” Cat added. “I can’t believe that would be true!”
Carl shook his head. “I know, it’s incredible, isn’t it? I would have never imagined her to be the type. But even I have to admit, and I was his business partner, Brian was not very good to that poor woman.”
Cat and I looked at each other. So it seemed Carl Green was ready to throw Isabella under the bus. I suppose he had to; other than the two of them there was no one on the train who actually had a reason to kill Brian.
“Do you know if he had a girlfriend?” I asked. “I heard he’d just come back from a trip to Mexico with her.”
Carl’s eyebrows rose. “That’s news to me. Brian was never single for that long, but as far as I knew after he broke things off with that ski instructor from Italy a few months ago he’d been single ever since. Although, he had been acting a little bit more secretive than usual before he died. Brian never kept his girlfriends secret though, he was more the boasting type. He was up to something he didn’t share with me before he died, though.”
I wanted to ask more questions, but we’d arrived at a small wooden house–more like a hut—that was obviously used as the zip lining headquarters. Carl and Chazza told us to follow them inside, where the walls were lined with safety harnesses and helmets.
Fifteen minutes later I was decked out in a whole bunch of safety gear, although I couldn’t help but wonder if the small plastic helmet was really going to do anything if I hit a tree or plummeted to the ground at sixty miles per hour.
We made our way up a ramp to the top of the first zip line. While it was high, the ramp had been built in such a way that it didn’t actually feel tiring at all by the time we got to the top, even for someone like me whose cardio exercise was virtually non-existent. As soon as we got to the top, however, my breath was completely taken away. We were nestled near the edge of a one hundred-foot-high cliff, overlooking Sapphire Lake. The sun shone down on the glistening blue water, contrasting against the deep green of the trees of the forest nearby. In the background was the mountain; I could still see ant-sized people skiing down the snow-covered hills. The music of birds floated up toward us on the zip line platform, and I was just completely overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.
I had always thought I was more of a beach person. However, the view here was making me quickly rethink that opinion. The mountains had a certain allure to them after all.
“Not a bad view, is it?” Chazza asked, and I looked around. I definitely wasn’t the only person admiring the incredible scenery. We spent a couple of minutes admiring the view and taking photos before Carl finally led us over to the zip line.
“Chazza’s going to go first, so he can meet you at the other side,” Carl told us, as Chazza hooked his harness up to a cable on the zip line. He tested the connection, then waved goodbye to us and jumped down, spinning himself upside down as he hurtled toward the ground at a faster and faster speed.
All of a sudden those nerves I’d felt before came flooding back. Then, I also realized that a man I was pretty sure was a murderer was going to be in charge of making sure we made it safely across the zip line rope ourselves. What if Carl had gotten suspicious about our questions? What if he thought an ‘accident’ was a good way to get rid of us?
No, I told myself. He wouldn’t do that. For one thing, it would destroy his business, having the reputation of a man who had killed his customers. Plus, having me die so soon after Brian’s death would make Carl look suspicious. It would be fine. Everything would be fine.
Still, as Carl motioned for me to come over and I let him hook me up to the zip line, I couldn’t help but feel my heart pounding in my chest.
“Don’t worry,” he told me with a smile. “You’ll be fine.” Apparently, I wasn’t very good at hiding my fear.
“Thanks,” I said as Carl told me to lift my feet off the ground. He held the cable, and as I did so, suddenly it felt like I was on a giant swing. And a second later, as Carl let go and I started plummeting toward the ground, it felt like a giant swing that went really, really fast. Everything swirled around me as I clutched the zip line rope; I was pretty sure I was screaming my head off, but I couldn’t hear through the sound of the wind rushing through my ears. Adrenaline coursed through my body; it was absolutely exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. After what felt like an eternity, the zip line slowed down as it reached the other end of the line, where a grinning Chazza was ready to unhook me.
When my legs touched the platform on the other side, they felt like jelly.
“How was it?” Chazza asked.
“Terrifying and awesome at the same time!”
“That’s what I like to hear,” he answered, laughing. “Now, your friend’s coming down next if you want to watch.”
I didn’t need to look up; I could already hear Cat hollering with excitement as she came thundering toward us on her zip line. I grinned as I watched her arrive down to where we were. “Awesome!” she exclaimed. “I’m totally ready to do the next four!”
“Wait… there’s more?” I asked, and Cat nodded enthusiastically.
“Absolutely!”
Forty minutes later we’d done all five zip lines, and I was pretty sure I’d taken at least five years off my life. I was sure my hair was sticking up all over the place, my heart was pounding at a million miles a minute, and I couldn’t stop grinning. Seriously! I had no idea that much adrenaline could be so much fun, and so scary at the same time.
It was so exciting I barely noticed that we never got another chance to talk to Carl, and the next thing I knew Chazza had loaded us all back up onto the bus and we were headed back to Sapphire Village.
“I wonder what Brian was up to before he died that Carl didn’t know about,” I mused as Cat and I sat in two of the seats at the back of the bus, away from the others.
“I don’t know,” Cat mused. “It didn’t sound like a girlfriend. Maybe Isabella really did get her facts wrong, and he went to Mexico alone.”
“But then why not deny it when she confronted him?”
Cat shrugged. “Making the ex-wife jealous? It could be as simple as that, and that really is the sort of thing Brian would have done.”
“I guess,” I replied. “So we know he was up to something, we just don’t know what.”
“Exactly. The funeral is tomorrow. Hopefully the gossip mill in town will give us something we can use.”
I certainly hoped so, but I wasn’t exactly optimistic.
Twelve
The day of the funeral brought more bright sunshine to Sapphire Village. It felt a bit weird, walking to a funeral while the sun’s warm rays shone down on me.
I wasn’t actually sure that Sapphire Village even had a church, but it turned out there was one, down a small side street, nestled in the woods. I had walked, but as I saw the lineup of cars along the road, I knew that most of the town was going to have turned out for the funeral. I inwardly began to chide people for their bloodlust, as from what I’d gathered Brian Armitage hadn’t been the most popular man in town, until I realized that I was essentially doing the same thing.
Pushing the thought out of my head, I made my way to the front of the church. It was a large, log building that would have almost looked more like a cabin than a church if it wasn’t for the huge, ornate wooden crucifix hanging from the front of the building.
All around the entrance people were huddled in small groups, talking to each other as they waited for the service to begin. Checking my phone I realized I was early; there were still twenty minutes before anything was scheduled to start. I looked around and saw Cat talking to Karen, the owner of Pickles’ Pizza. I made my way toward them.
“Hi, Alice,” Karen greeted me, somewhat sombrely due to the occasion. “I’m glad to see you came.”
“Of course, I’m part of the community now, and it seems like the rest of the community has also come out to pay their respects.”
Karen’s mouth formed a grim line. “Or to gossip about who killed him, more like. I’m surprised there hasn’t been some enterprising soul who’s started a pool determining how long it’s going to take before Chase Griffin arrests Isabella for Brian’s murder.”
“Oh,” I replied. “Have you heard anything about there being other suspects?”
“Not at all,” Karen replied, shaking her head. “A few people tried to accuse Carl, of course, being the business partner, but he had no reason to kill Brian. I can’t believe it, myself. I would have never picked Isabella to be the type, but she just seems the most likely suspect.”
The doors to the church opened just then, and the par
ade of people waiting outside slowly flowed inside, with Cat, Karen and myself being passively dragged along with everyone else. By the time we got inside all of the seating had already been taken. I could see Isabella at the front with her children. She was careful not to meet anyone’s eyes, and from the way she tenderly hugged her children I could tell she loved them very much. I imagined it must not be easy for her to come to the funeral of her ex-husband who had treated her so badly, especially knowing she was the main suspect in his murder, and yet she still did it for her children’s sake.
I really hoped Isabella hadn’t done it.
Eventually the church was completely full; there was no space left even for standing. Looking around I saw almost everyone that I knew from town. Frank was standing somberly against the wall, Karen was only a few feet away from him. Dana Gunter was dressed in all black, handing someone a business card; her husband Henry was standing next to her looking bored. Denise Williams was looking around impatiently, as though waiting for someone to start some drama. Carl Green was sitting in the second row of seats, his head down.
The minister began the service, talking about how good a man Brian was, and a number of other platitudes that sounded absolutely nothing like the man I’d learned about over the last few days. Still, it was a funeral, and the minister certainly couldn’t say Brian was an embezzling philanderer who treated his ex-wife terribly. This was definitely not the time nor place for that.
The service was short, with only Carl saying a few words about how good a friend Brian had been and how he was going to miss him. If Carl knew about the embezzling, I had to admit he was extremely good at hiding it. I was pretty sure I even saw him wiping away a tear as he finished his speech.
As the service finished and everyone poured out of the church, I suddenly felt a rush of guilt. This was a man’s funeral. And yes, I knew that I was a suspect in his murder, and I knew that everyone in town was most likely talking about how I had been involved in the two murders that had happened in Sapphire Village in the short period of time I’d been here–being on the train when Brian was murdered, and finding the body when Edith Chalmers was killed. I still couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty though at the fact that I was at the man’s funeral trying to get information.
Murder on the Oregon Express (A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) (Magical Bookshop Mystery Book 2) Page 7