The killer waited until his back was turned then swung a shovel, slamming it into the side of Derek’s head. A shovel wasn’t too heavy, even for someone like Lucy. She could have swung the shovel, especially if Derek Cooper had just spurned her and her baby. For someone as troubled as Lucy Adair appeared to be, that final rejection might have literally been the straw that broke the camel’s back. And Derek Cooper’s head.
Kelly finished one row, then turned the scarf and began the next row. Stitches neatly forming one after another, row by row, building on one another, like her thoughts. Thought by thought, idea by idea, slowly building scenes in her mind. Kelly sat knitting, quietly turning over motive and opportunity in her mind, picturing sweet, shy Lucy killing her faithless lover, Derek.
Would Derek’s rejection of Lucy and her child cause her to strike out in rage? The heat of such rage and passion often brought with it a superhuman strength. Perhaps that was what happened, and now Lucy could not live with the guilt of what she’d done. Perhaps that was the root of the intense emotion Father Riley and Lizzie both witnessed. If Lucy did kill Derek Cooper, then that would explain the guilt.
Another tweed row, then another, and all the while Kelly kept sorting through her thoughts, becoming more and more certain she’d found the answer. Why else would Lucy be consumed with guilt? Had Lucy confessed to Father Riley? Was that why the priest looked so worried? Father Riley was bound by his priestly vows not to reveal what was heard in the confessional.
How could anyone learn the truth then? Kelly wondered. Maybe she could speak with Lucy. No, that wouldn’t work. Lucy would run like a rabbit. Should she try to talk to her with Lizzie? No, Lizzie had done her part. Besides, if Lucy started crying again, Lizzie’s motherly instincts would take over her skeptical side.
Another row, then another. Then Lisa’s face appeared in her mind. That’s it, Kelly decided. She and Lisa could talk with Lucy. It had to be someone Lucy felt safe with, or Lucy would be terrified and run away again. Lucy knew and trusted Lisa. Now all Kelly had to do was convince Lisa. Would she agree with Kelly’s plan? After all, Lisa’s last attempt to counsel Lucy had resulted in Lucy’s tearful escape from the knitting shop.
Kelly finished knitting the row she was on, then shoved the alpaca wool and needles back into her bag. Lisa needed to be convinced that Lucy was hiding something. Something that was causing all the pain and stress they’d witnessed. Kelly wouldn’t be able to convince Lisa. Her reputation for sleuthing would damn her. Lisa would know Kelly was on a fishing expedition. But Lizzie could convince her.
She grabbed her coat and knitting bag as she rose from the table. “Lizzie, I have some errands to run, but I was wondering if you’d be willing to speak with Lisa on the phone. I think if anyone can get through to Lucy, it will be Lisa. That’s why I’d like you to tell her everything you told me about Lucy, if you would, please.”
“Certainly, dear, if you think it will help,” Lizzie replied.
“It’s the only thing I can think of, Lizzie. Someone needs to convince Lucy she needs professional help,” Kelly said as she headed for the door, zipping her winter coat.
Kelly pulled into the gravel driveway, steering around an iced-over puddle. Halfway down the driveway, she stopped and turned off the ignition. A gust of wind rocked her car. Spitting snow flew sideways in sheets. Despite that, Kelly wrapped her chunky wool scarf around her neck, pulled her knit hat down over her ears, and jumped out of the car. The lure of Geri Norbert’s canyon property was stronger than freezing cold, bitter winds that roared, and icy snow that stung her cheeks. Even the slippery canyon road hadn’t stopped her.
None of it mattered. The sight of evergreens coated with snow, branches laden down, touching the ground, pastures and fence posts draped in white made the entire drive worthwhile. Snow stretched to the horizon. Thirty minutes before, Kelly had glimpsed her favorite view of the Rockies in the distance, glacier peaks, coated with winter. Then the clouds changed, merged with one another, and filled the sky overhead until it was solid white. Snow sky. Unmistakable.
A wind gust blew Kelly back several inches as she stood beside the fence. This high up, the wind howled. Not seeing the alpacas, she figured they had sought shelter in the barn, since the doors were open. Another gust blew her scarf around her face, whipping the scarf ends. She nestled into her jacket as she took in the wintry scene. Even though Kelly loved summer and the lush green of the canyon, winter was beautiful, too. Somehow the run-down ranch house and barns looked picturesque in the snow. Yes, the roads were scary to drive in these conditions, but she’d get used to them. Kelly was sure of it.
That familiar feeling returned to Kelly full force. The feeling that came over her whenever she saw this gorgeous canyon property. Desire. She wanted this ranch. It didn’t matter if two other buyers dumped it. It didn’t matter that Jennifer was convinced something was wrong with it. Heck, it didn’t matter if there really were ghosts. Kelly didn’t care. She wanted it. And she wasn’t about to let it slip through her fingers again. She’d tell Jennifer to up the offer, if necessary.
A blast of wind blew icy snow-sleet into her face, stinging Kelly’s eyes. Another blast pushed her into the fence, scarf ends flapping like ships’ pennants. Kelly wiped her eyes, took one last panoramic look, and raced to her car. Jumping in, she revved the engine and turned the heater to high. Better not linger up here too long. After all, the trip out of the canyon was all downhill and icy.
“Hey, Kelly, you staying warm?” Jayleen asked.
Kelly nestled her cell phone between her neck and shoulders while she rinsed her dinner dishes. “Trying to. Particularly since I drove up to Geri Norbert’s ranch today. Brother, that road is nasty when it’s snowing.”
“Whoa, girl, you picked a bad day to drive up here. What were you doing?”
“Taking another look. Jennifer told me yesterday that the ranch is back on the market again. The second buyer dumped it like the first one did. Jennifer thinks it’s haunted.” Kelly wiped her hands on a dish towel and retrieved the phone, which was about to slip off her shoulder.
“You’re kidding,” Jayleen said, clearly surprised. “What is going on with that place? It’s a great property. Maybe those folks weren’t meant to live in the mountains. I’ll bet that last buyer from back east got a taste of winter here and decided no thanks.”
“Who knows, Jayleen.” Kelly poured a dark stream of coffee into her mug, then wandered over to the patio door. She peered into the darkened backyard, spotting Carl galumphing through the snow. “I don’t care why she dumped it, I’m just glad she did. Maybe I’ll have a chance to grab it this time. Jennifer’s coming over in a few minutes with a new purchase offer. Wish me luck.”
“You know I do, Kelly,” Jayleen said. “Three’s the charm, you know. This’ll be the third time you offered on it.”
Kelly laughed. “I’ll remember that. By the way, did you visit Diane this afternoon? How’s she doing?”
“I sure did. She’s doing okay, I guess. Kind of subdued. Both the alcohol counselor and the psychologist spoke with her this morning, so she’s got plenty to think about. She’s a smart girl. She’ll figure it out. I hope.” Jayleen let out a long sigh. “Oh, and I remembered to ask her that question you told me.”
“Good, good.” Kelly set down her mug. “Does she still remember seeing a car when she left Derek’s that night? I was wondering if she’d imagined it, maybe.”
“Nope, she says she remembers it clear as day. There was a small car driving up to Derek’s as she was driving away.”
The anxious voice inside her head exulted. “Okay, that means there was someone else coming to see Derek that night after Diane left,” Kelly said.
“Providing Diane’s telling the truth.”
Kelly paused. Jayleen’s tone had turned somber. “Do you think she’s lying to us?”
“I dunno, Kelly,” Jayleen said with a sigh. “She lied to me the other day. When we were driving back to the ranch Sunday night,
I asked her flat out if she’d taken a drink while we were at the party. Told her someone had seen her with the vodka. She denied it right to my face.”
Kelly winced. “Damn, Jayleen, do you think she’s been lying to us all along?” All those earlier doubts about Diane crept out of the corners of Kelly’s mind. They hadn’t gone far.
“Hard to say, Kelly. I know I did my share of lying in my drinking days. Usually to cover my butt. So I don’t know what to say. Maybe Diane only lies about her drinking. Then again, maybe it goes deeper than that. I’m hoping to hell this time at the hospital will clear up her thinking and set her straight.”
Kelly pondered what Jayleen said. If Diane lied about her drinking, what else has she lied about? Kelly wanted to believe Diane, but…
“Listen, Kelly, I’ve gotta get back to work. I’m finally unpacking those boxes in the barn. Promise me you won’t be driving into this canyon again until the roads are cleared. You don’t have a truck or a four-by-four, so that makes it trickier.”
“I promise. Today was icy enough for me. I’ll talk with you tomorrow. I think I hear Jennifer at my door now.”
Kelly was halfway to her front door when Jennifer pushed it open, escaping inside. “Whoooo! It’s frigid out there,” she said, stamping her feet.
“Come on in.” Kelly beckoned. “I’ve got coffee and hot chocolate ready.”
Jennifer shed her coat and gloves and shivered, rubbing her sweater-clad arms. “Hot chocolate. Why don’t we sit at the kitchen table?” She retrieved a legal-sized black vinyl folder and followed Kelly into the cozy cottage kitchen.
Kelly poured hot chocolate into a large ceramic mug as Jennifer settled at the table. “Okay, tell me everything you found out. But you know, it won’t change my mind. I drove up there this afternoon in the snow and ice, and I still want that ranch.” She gave her friend a wink before taking a deep drink of coffee.
“You drove up into that canyon in this weather?” Jennifer exclaimed, clearly shocked. “Now I know you’re crazy.”
“No, I wanted to see if I still felt the same way about the place in the winter as I did in the summer and fall. And I do. It’s beautiful. Snow-covered evergreens, Rockies glistening in the distance, even the barn looked pretty.”
“Okay, okay, I know how much you love the place. But I have to tell you what I found out today. My conscience demands it.” She took a big sip of chocolate, then another. “The first two buyers dumped the property because they got spooked. Strange things started happening. I never could get a straight answer from the agent for the second buyer, but the first buyer’s agent finally answered my questions. His client, the developer, was going to build some mega mountain home up in the canyon. Then, two weeks after he brings a builder out there, one of his condo developments at the east of town was torched, remember?”
“I remember.” Kelly raised a skeptical brow. “But maybe it was faulty wiring. Steve’s told me things like that happen.”
“Yeah, well, apparently he thought so at first, until the investigators discovered a gas can at the scene. A strange, old-fashioned gas can, not like one you’d normally find. Investigators also found evidence that the fire had been deliberately set with, you guessed it, gasoline.”
“That’s too bad, but arson happens. You know that.”
“Yeah, I do. And the agent said that’s what the developer chalked it up to until two weeks later when a gas can exactly like the first one appeared in the canyon property’s driveway. Close enough to the road so you could see it, the agent said. And there was another can exactly like it on the front porch of the ranch house.” Jennifer gazed solemnly at Kelly.
“Hmmmm,” Kelly pondered out loud.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. It also made the hair on my neck stand on end, Kelly. That was a direct message to that developer. The other agent thought so, too.”
“That’s why he sold it?”
“Yep.” Jennifer nodded. “The agent told me his client decided he wasn’t about to play games with some sicko, so he put the property right back on the market. And he got even more for it, too. That woman from out of state made an above-price offer and he snapped it up, the agent said.”
Kelly considered everything Jennifer told her, turning it over in her mind. “You know, Jen, it sounds like that developer has made some enemies over the years. And one of them decided to target him, that’s all. At least that’s what it sounds like to me.”
Jennifer sighed. “You could be right, Kelly. But my instinct tells me there’s something else happening here. I don’t know what, but I can feel it. I wish I could have talked with the agent for the second buyer. But I could never reach her, so I had to pump the assistant, and all she’d ever say was the client got ‘spooked.’ That’s all, no details.”
Kelly smiled at her well-meaning friend. “Well, Jen, you know I don’t spook easily.”
“Don’t I know it,” Jennifer said with a resigned sigh.
“So unless you’ve got photos of Marie Antoinette’s ghost walking through the kitchen with her head under her arm, I want to proceed. Did you bring the new offer?”
“Right here.” Jennifer unzipped the portfolio. “By now, you’re familiar with the verbiage, so we’ll go straight to the signature lines.”
“What about price? How much above market should I offer?”
“Actually, considering the circumstances, I think you’ll get it at market. Word’s out now about this place, plus the holidays are upon us. No one’s paying attention. There’s only been one offer since yesterday, and it’s from that weird guy in Denver.”
“Weird guy from Denver?” Kelly grinned. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Jennifer leaned back in the chair, sipping hot chocolate. “Nope. He works alone, dresses like an overage Gothboy, all in black. And he always, always underbids. Sometimes insultingly so. All of his clients are from out of town, too. Who knows how they find him. On the Web, probably, under ‘Strange People.’ Maybe they threw darts at a website. Who knows?”
Kelly laughed. “Overage Gothboy. Okay, that is strange. Sure he won’t change tactics?”
Jennifer shook her head. “Nope. I’ve checked with other agents. That’s his standard operating procedure. He tries to pick up Colorado properties for rock-bottom prices. Trouble is, there aren’t many in that category anymore. So I think we’ll be safe offering at market. Especially since I sense this second buyer wants to sell as quickly as possible. Even the agent’s assistant sounded spooked.”
“Well, overage Gothboys won’t spook me, either. Let’s do it.” She pulled out the chair across the table. “Will you still be able to submit this tonight?”
Jennifer nodded with a smile. “Oh, yeah. I called the agent’s assistant and told her I might be bringing an offer tonight. She promised she’d stay awake till midnight.”
Eighteen
Kelly tabbed through the spreadsheet columns, checking the amounts calculated, entering revenues and expenses methodically as the cursor moved across the screen. Only a scratch at the patio door penetrated her concentration. Carl pressed his nose against the glass, clearly asking to come in.
Kelly escaped the computer and slid open the glass door. Both Carl and a wintry blast of cold air surged inside the cottage. “I told you snow doesn’t slow down squirrels,” Kelly admonished her dog as he shook snowflakes from his smooth black coat. “You’ve been out five times this morning, Carl. Why don’t you curl up and take a nap inside where it’s warm and cozy?”
Carl rubbed his head against Kelly’s leg, then lifted it for a pat. “Silly boy.” She rubbed his soft ears.
Her cell phone jangled then, and Kelly grabbed her mug before settling into the leather sofa. The better to watch the snow flurries outside. “Kelly Flynn,” she said, then took another sip of coffee.
“Hi, Kelly,” Lisa’s voice said. “I talked to Lizzie this morning. She’s really worried about Lucy, and I can’t say I blame her, judging from what she told me.”
&n
bsp; “I’m glad to hear you say that, Lisa. I felt the same way after I spoke with Lizzie yesterday. Lucy sounds like she’s getting worse.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Lisa said with an audible sigh.
Kelly deliberately paused, taking another sip of coffee, giving Lisa time to think. “So do you think you’d like to try talking with her again? It sounds like the priest made some progress. Maybe he kind of broke the ice, so to speak.”
“Yeah, but according to Lizzie, Lucy was weeping and distraught all the way home. Exactly the way she was when I mentioned therapy.”
Kelly could hear the reticence in Lisa’s voice, so she gambled and voiced her real concerns. “You know, Lisa, I sense there’s something else behind Lucy’s emotional outbursts.”
“You mean other than being pregnant, alone, and abandoned?” Lisa barbed. “That would do it for most women.”
“I agree, but I sense there’s something else bothering Lucy, and it has to do with Derek.”
Lisa was silent for a minute. “Kelly, you’re fishing for something, I can tell. You’re looking for clues to that Derek Cooper murder, aren’t you?”
“Kind of.” Kelly hedged. “I think Lucy knows something that she hasn’t told anyone yet, and it’s eating her up inside. Maybe she told the priest, and that’s why she was so upset. Who knows?”
“Damn, Kelly,” Lisa protested. “You can’t go interrogating Lucy. She’s too fragile right now. I won’t let you, I swear I won’t.”
Kelly decided to use her friend’s protective instincts to advantage. “I understand that, Lisa, that’s why I’m asking you to take the lead. Lucy needs help badly. We both know it. She’s starting to self-destruct right in front of our eyes. Someone has to take the initiative.”
Lisa exhaled another sigh of exasperation. “I know, I know, I just don’t want to push Lucy over the edge, that’s all. It has to be done the right way. Lucy needs to feel safe before she’ll talk. I know it.”
A Killer Stitch Page 18