by Tonya Kappes
“There’s the birthday girl!” Cheryl Lynne yelled when I walked through the door. “I’ve been waiting for you.” She reached behind the counter and stuck a cupcake on top of it. There was a fondant E on the top. “I’ve been waiting for you all day. Your favorite.”
“Red velvet?” I let out a big squeal. “You are a good friend.” I reached up and grabbed it.
“Hey. What about me?” Mazie asked from behind. She still had her light blue library polo and khaki pants on with her white tennis shoes. “Happy birthday.” She had a cute orange gift bag dangling from her finger. “For you. I got it from Southern Roots. I figured you could use it for Zula’s wedding.”
“Thanks.” I took the package. “Can we get a couple of coffees?” I turned back to Cheryl.
“I’ll pay for them.” Mazie chimed in with a happy nod and a smile on her face.
I looked between the two of them as they started to chat about what was going on in their lives and I felt a little better about Jack Henry leaving. I’d never really realized that I did have a couple of good friends here. I knew they’d be here for me.
“Are you ready?” Mazie grabbed both coffees and we headed toward the open café table in the front of the coffee shop. “I called Kay and she said that she didn’t know where the photos of that party were. But she’d let us know when she found them.”
“It wasn’t like we gave her much notice. Jack Henry and I were talking last night. My biggest fear came true.” I peeled the cupcake paper off the delicious birthday treat. My mouth watered at the sight of the moist red cake. “Serena Bemis called Jack Henry and asked him about the open investigation because she checked with the Chicago PD and they didn’t know anything about it. And you used my name, which she wrote down.”
“I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll do better next time.” There was sincerity in the tone of her voice. “Did she give him any clues to her mom?”
“No,” my voice muffled from the big bite I’d stuffed into my mouth. “She’s coming to town to talk to him or something. I don’t know. All I know is that we’ve got to figure out where Rachael is in order for Jack to really open the case.”
“Hopefully the killer will show up tonight and we can get them.” Mazie had no idea how this thing played out.
It wasn’t as easy as she’d thought and I felt like we were at a dead end.
“I asked Fluggie Callahan to come do a story for the paper and local news crews. I hope it gets some coverage and is picked up nationally. Even though we know what happened to Betsy, the world doesn’t know yet. Or did Jack Henry tell Kay?” she asked before taking a sip of her coffee.
“He won’t say anything until we can prove Rachael was connected to Betsy and how she got her.” That was going to be hard to do with Rachael being dead. We’d have to have hard evidence to prove it.
“Tonight. Tonight is going to be it.” She gave a firm nod and looked out the window. “The news is here.”
There was a white news van pulled up on the inn side of the square. Fluggie Callahan was sitting on the gazebo steps. She never missed a good scoop.
“Fluggie is already there,” I noted.
“Yeah. We sorta made a deal. She loves to read romance novels and I’ve got my pulse on all the new releases.” Mazie was sneaky and I loved it.
“Do tell.” My jaw dropped. I never imagined Fluggie ever reading romance.
“Oh yeah. Her favorite author, who writes smut, has a new book coming out next week and I told her I’d hold it for her if, and only if, she took photos of the event and let me have a disc of them. Because I’m telling you, the killer will come back.” She wiggled her brows with a smirk on her face.
“You are awesome.” I laughed at her bribing skills. “And I like it. I hope you’re right about the killer.” I leaned over. “It’d have to be Rachael’s killer because we know Betsy was accidentally killed by the barn fire.”
“Someone in this entire crazy situation knows.” She eased back in the café chair.
“Rachael always does this.” I took my finger and rubbed the middle of my chest like Rachael did. “I wasn’t sure why she does it, but when Jack Henry came by the funeral home and looked at the white board, I noticed in the photo you found of Rachael on the internet, she has on a necklace. I can’t tell what it is. I wonder if she had it on when she died. If she did, her bones might be deteriorated, but not the necklace.”
“We can ask her daughter tonight if she shows up at the vigil. Or did Jack Henry not tell her about it?” Mazie asked.
“I’m not sure why he’d invite her to that especially since he hadn’t yet known what you and I have found out.” I took a drink of the coffee and noticed out of the corner of my eye there was a group of people who were already gathered at the square. There was also a table set up with some big white paper balloons that I was sure were the ones we were going to light and send up into the sky.
“Emma Lee,” Rachael appeared next to Mazie. Her eyes were hollow and scared.
“Birthday girl,” Cheryl called after me. My eyes slid from Rachael to Cheryl. “This lady is looking for Jack Henry.”
“That lady is my daughter,” Rachael whispered. Her finger rubbing her chest as if she were rubbing out the hurt.
Chapter Twenty
I pretended to text Jack Henry and took Serena by the arm, leading her over to the café table where I pulled a chair up for her to sit. Not that I wasn’t going to really text Jack, I was, but in due time.
“Mazie, this is Serena Bemis.” I hoped Mazie wouldn’t be freaked out. Trial by fire, right? “She’s the one I called about her mom Rachael.”
At this point, Rachael wasn’t leaving Serena’s side. She continued to beg for Serena’s forgiveness. I wasn’t able to tell Serena that because it was very apparent Serena felt like her mother was still alive and living some life with the man she’d run off with.
“When I called you back, Sheriff Ross answered and he didn’t seem to know about reopening the investigation. That’s why I decided to come here. I don’t understand why Sleepy Hollow PD would reopen her case when the Chicago PD continued to say that she ran off since there weren’t any signs of her.” Serena was confused. “She gave me and my brother to our grandmother and took off.”
“Does your grandmother remember anything that your mom said about coming back?” I asked. “For the investigation.”
“Shouldn’t you take me to the station for a statement or something? Or at least write it down?” She looked around the café.
“We do our best work right here. Besides, we have a vigil for a little girl that disappeared twenty years ago today. She was a cold case too.” Mazie made it sound so good. “Since both of us are here, we have good memories.”
“They sure do things differently in Kentucky.” Serena scooted up on the edge of the chair. “My grandmother claims that she thought my mom was always coming back. She also said she didn’t know who the man was. We had our suspicions since he’d given her a gift and she never took it off.”
“Did it happen to be a necklace?” I asked.
“Yes.” Rachael and Serena said in unison. “He gave me a little TV charm and I put it on a necklace chain.”
“She put it on a chain,” Serena followed up. “I really think it was someone she worked with because they sold and rented furniture, including TVs. She didn’t get it until she took the job and she didn’t ever take it off.”
“Where did it go?” Rachael rubbed her finger to her chest. “I never took it off.”
“Jack Henry,” I jumped in my surprise to see him walking down the sidewalk toward the café. “I’ll be right back.”
I left Serena with Mazie. Something I probably shouldn’t have done because I wasn’t sure how Mazie would act and if she’d pretend to be someone and say something that’d get us in trouble, but I did anyway. Having Jack Henry mad at me was by far worse in my humble opinion.
“Hi.” I bounced on my toes. He looked so handsome in his brown uniform. �
�Thank you for the flowers. I’m so excited about tonight.”
“Happy birthday, baby.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and rested the palm of his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me to him for a gentle kiss.
“And it just gets better.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the door of Higher Grounds open and Serena coming out. “But I have to tell you that Serena. . .”
‘Hi, Sheriff, I’m Serena Bemis.” She stuck her hand out. “Officer Raines and I were just discussing the necklace my mother always wore.”
“Necklace, huh?” His loving hand dropped from me and distrusting eyes stared at me. “Why don’t you and I go on down to the station to get your statement?”
“They,” she pointed to Mazie, and me “said they usually did their interviews here.”
“They did, did they?” His brows rose. “I’ll take you on down to the station while they work the vigil.” He nodded at me.
“Yes, sir. Sir.” Mazie clicked her heels together like she was in the army and did the salute too.
“Stop it,” I whispered and grabbed her hand, flinging it down to her side. “We’ll do that and I’ll see you afterward.”
Jack didn’t even tell me bye. The stalk in his walk told me he was very unhappy with keeping Serena at Higher Grounds. Mazie and I watched as Serena got into Jack’s cruiser and they took off.
“That was close.” Mazie swiped her hand across her brow. “Shhhew.”
“I’ll hear about it later.” There was a sick feeling in my gut. “Isn’t that Kay?”
The media and Fluggie had already surrounded her. Mazie and I scurried across the street.
“You keep her company and I’ll watch Rachael’s reaction to the people.” I looked around for Rachael and realized she was probably with her daughter, but Betsy and Mr. Whiskers were in the gazebo going around and around in circles, having a great time.
I didn’t tell Mazie that because I needed to really look around and Mazie needed a job. Her job was to make sure the vigil went smoothly.
Betsy spent most of her time looking at her mom and Mr. Whiskers spent the night napping in the gazebo.
“What’s he doing here?” Mazie walked up and pointed out that Kevin Allen had shown up. He and Kay were talking. There weren’t any smiles or warm fuzzies coming from either of them.
“I’m not sure.” I watched Betsy. She reached out and touched Kevin. He brought that hand up to his chest before trying to reach out to Kay. Kay jerked away. “He felt Betsy touch him.”
“Is Betsy mad?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“You’d think she’d be mad at him.” Mazie shrugged.
“Why? Because he cheated on her mother? I’m not even sure if Kay knew about that since Kay said she didn’t recognize the name when we asked her about it.” I continued to watch the uncomfortable exchange between the two.
“Seeing them together like this just makes me think Kay knows that Kevin did something. Whether it was with Rachael or to Betsy, but something is wrong.” Mazie had a good instinct because I was feeling it too.
“Here she comes.” I straightened up when I saw Kay coming toward us.
“I’m ready to get this over with.” She looked around. “Do you think Betsy’s killer is here?” There was sadness in her voice.
“We’ll see.” I offered a smile and kept my head down so Kevin didn’t see me.
Mazie took over and gave a little speech with Kay next to her. Even Pastor Brown was there to offer a blessing and a prayer. Fluggie’s camera clicked and flashed. There were so many people there I didn’t know, that I hoped one of them would give Betsy some sort of memory. Or even a memory for Rachael. Everyone had one of the paper balloons and together lit the bottom causing them to all float up in the air. I turned and looked around at Betsy and Mr. Whiskers in the gazebo. It was good to see Rachael had joined them. The three of them stood on the top step in the exact same place I’d seen them for the first time six months ago. My heart sank. I was no closer to helping them cross over tonight as I was then.
“What on earth are those?” Granny came up and brought me out of my own head where I was beating myself up. “I want them at my nuptials. And we never went to that bridal shop.”
“I need to go because Mazie got me something from there and I want to check the place out. We can go tomorrow afternoon.” I put my arm around her. “Do you think Charlotte can see all of this from up above?”
“She has her loving hand all over us, Emma Lee.” Granny squeezed my waist where her arm was hooked.
Loving hand was going a little far and if Charlotte was alive, I’d have started laughing at the statement. I did love Charlotte, but loving was not a word I’d use to describe her.
Granny and I stood in the dusk of the night and watched as the balloons headed off into the still of the fall night and disappeared behind the mountains.
Chapter Twenty-One
A small red and green sign that read Bella Vino Restorante flickered through the blinds of the window along with the tapered candle in the middle of the cream linen covered table. Jack Henry’s arm extended with his hands on mine. Two glasses of wine and a chilled bottle sat on the table. If that wasn’t enough to put you in a romantic mood, the authentic Italian music quietly played above from the speakers. The low lighting glowed along the pale yellow exposed brick. The entire feel of the restaurant was as if you stepped into Italy.
“I’m lucky they had a table left.” He gazed at me.
“I was so excited when I got your note and flowers.” I used my free hand to take lots of sips from my wine glass. It was helping keep the tears at bay.
There were only six tables in the entire restaurant, which made it very difficult to get reservations.
The waitress came out with large steaming family style bowls. One was filled with spaghetti noodles, another filled with large hand rolled meatballs, and the other with sauce. The bread basket was overflowing with breadsticks with a heavy garlic smell.
Jack Henry took my plate and filled it for me, being the good southern gentleman that he was. He held the bread basket over the table for me to take one.
“I told my mom about the job today.” Jack Henry tore his breadstick in half and dipped it into the sauce on his plate. “Her reaction actually surprised me.”
“Really?” Hearing what his mother had to say was something I could probably do without. She wasn’t a fan of the last time he’d turned down the offer because of me. I rarely went to her house to visit and when I did, she made me feel like my job was menial. Plus, she was a Burns person. That really ticked me off.
“Yeah. She said that she didn’t understand why now and what about me and you.” He smiled. “I think she’s coming around to the idea of us.”
“About time,” I muttered.
“She said that she didn’t know if she liked the fact I wasn’t going to be living here anymore and not seeing me was going to be bad for her.” His eyes lowered. He gave a wry smile. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you two were in cahoots.”
“Trust me, we’re not.” I assured him and downed the last sip of wine. “What did Serena have to say?”
It was time to change the subject. If he kept talking about his new job and leaving me, I would drink the entire bottle and that wasn’t a pretty sight. My crying face was ugly, but my drunk crying face was worse.
“Same stuff that was reported when she was a kid. She’s not heard from her mom and she had no idea who the man was,” he said.
“I do know that the necklace in the photo is a TV charm. Apparently Kevin gave it to her, but I’ve not seen her since the vigil to ask. Mazie had Fluggie taking all sorts of photos because she said that all the books she read and researched, the killer loves to show up at things like that.” I grabbed another breadstick to help soak up the wine that was now making me light-headed. “Rachael doesn’t have a necklace on. She keeps rubbing that area and I know if we find the necklace, we’ll find her bones.”<
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“That’s all great, but we have no leads. I had to let Serena go home with the notion we couldn’t open the case.” Jack Henry didn’t make me feel any better about the case.
“I can’t let these two just linger around and not let them have some sort of peace.” Screw the bread. I grabbed the bottle and filled my glass up with the remaining wine. “That’s awful. A Betweener not able to help her clients. What a joke,” I whispered into the glass and took a big gulp.
That bothered me more than Jack Henry leaving. With him leaving, I’d still have Betweener clients to keep me busy, maybe. But if word got around up in the beyond that I wasn’t able to help them, they’d stop coming to see me. I was starting to really like that job. I felt like I was making a difference and bringing justice to the world one murderer at a time.
“Enough about that. It’ll work its way out.” His face hardened. “I’m leaving next week.”
“Next week?” My eyes popped open. “Why so soon?”
“The sooner I’m gone, the quicker I’ll be back.” His face was so serious, it scared me. “If I don’t like it, I’ve figured it out. But you were right a few months back.”
“What did I say?” I couldn’t even remember.
“You told me that if I didn’t try it, I’d always wonder and maybe become bitter and mad at myself.”
That sounded like something I’d say, but I didn’t mean a word of it. I’d like to kick my own butt right now. I mean wallop myself good. A scowl formed across my face.
“Did I?” I asked and forced a smile. “We’ll be fine. And if you do like it, we can figure that out too.”
“I can be stationed locally probably, I’d just have to drive to work.” By driving to work, he meant that he’d have to drive to the interstate, which wasn’t close to Sleepy Hollow.