Crowning the Slug Queen (A Callie Stone Mystery Book 1)

by L. M. Fortin

  Callie took the elevator down and headed towards Caffe Misto. As she was drinking her hazelnut latte and guiltily eating a whole cinnamon roll by herself, she decided to try and make good her promise to Aaron Wolcott and dialed Audrey's number.

  The phone rang a few times and Consuela answered. "Hello?"

  "Consuela, it's Callie Stone. I visited Audrey a few days ago."

  "Callie, it's nice to hear from you again. I know Audrey was hoping to hear from you while you were still in town," she said.

  "Is she home? I was wondering if she was free today."

  "She's in the sunroom with the girls," said Consuela. "Let me get her."

  Audrey came on the line. "Callie, I didn't think to hear from you so soon."

  "I know. I'm not sure how long I'll be in town and I wanted to see you again. Any chance you can play hooky today?"

  "I'd have to check and make sure Consuela's ok with it, but what did you have in mind?"

  "I thought we could do lunch out at the Creekplace Center and then take in an early afternoon movie. It will be like old times," said Callie.

  "That sounds good. What time?"

  "Let's meet there at eleven thirty. We'll beat the lunch crowd."

  "I'll see you at the door to the Macy's," said Audrey.

  Callie laughed. "I remember taking the city bus to that door so many times. I'm glad I can finally drive there."

  Audrey was already waiting for Callie when she arrived at the Creekplace Center. Her bright red hair was pulled back in a low pony tail and she was wearing a pale pink long sleeved t-shirt and skinny jeans. There seemed to be a subtle difference about her. Callie thought she looked less defeated somehow, more energized.

  "I have some big news," said Audrey. "I got asked out on a date!"

  "Really? I had the impression Skinner had a shortage of available men who above college age. Please tell me you aren't robbing the cradle," said Callie, smiling.

  They walked into the Macy's. "He's a pediatric dentist I met him while taking the girls in to get their teeth checked."

  "A dentist. Nice choice. Where's he taking you?"

  "We're going to an Indian restaurant. He's lived in Skinner for 20 years, but he was born in Delhi and came here with his parents when they moved to the States."

  "Do you like Indian food?" asked Callie.

  "I don't know. I've never really had any," said Audrey. "I am trying to be more open minded about things. I've been in a rut and I think I need to make some changes in my life."

  They walked through the department store and headed to one of the chain restaurants located on the edge of the mall's food court.

  They sat down, and after they ordered, Callie said, "I ran into your father when I was downtown. He looks really good."

  "He seems to get better with age," said Audrey.

  Callie didn't want to make any accusations about Audrey's possible drug habit, so she tried to keep the conversation general. "I think he's worried about you. Worried about whether or not you're happy."

  Audrey was silent for a long moment. "I have nothing to complain about, do I? Great house, great kids and the bills are all paid. But no, up to this point I would not say I was happy."

  "Is that something you want to fix?" asked Callie.

  "Finally, I think so," she said. "I just keep feeling sorry for myself, but when I look around me, I realize any negativity that's there is coming from me, not from anything else."

  "I don't know," said Callie. "I mean, you're right on one hand, but on the other, different people find life challenging in different ways. The divorce was really hard on you."

  "I think the hardest part was when I began realizing I might have brought it on myself," said Audrey. "After I saw you the other day, I wondered what would happen if I just tried to do something differently. Like saying yes to a date or playing hookey with my high school best friend."

  "I guess you're saying that when doing the same old thing doesn't work any longer, any other option is better?"

  "I just don't want to look back on my life ten years from now and I think I wasted it."

  "That makes sense. And remember, you're not alone. I'm just a phone call away and your dad's right here. I also think Scooter would still be there for you if you needed him."

  Audrey frowned. "I'm not sure I'm ready to go that far into trying something new. But I hear what you're saying and I really appreciate it."

  The server returned with their drinks and they changed topics to discuss the more immediate question of what movie to see.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  It was getting late in the afternoon when Callie returned home. Audrey's obvious improvement and the light hearted comedy they saw together had left her feeling upbeat.

  Although her mom's truck was in the driveway there was no one in the kitchen, so she went out to the cottage. She was surprised to see the door open. She walked in and saw Grandma Millie sitting on the couch with a notebook and her mom walking around the room.

  "What's up?" asked Callie, setting her bag on the floor.

  "You, that's what!" said Grandma Millie.

  Coral frowned at her. "What she means to say, is what would it take for you to stay?"

  "Stay where?" asked Callie.

  "She means, we want you here, not some three thousand miles away, so do you need new curtains or a bath rug or something like that," said Grandma Millie.

  Coral nodded. "I think you might like it here now, more than you did when you were growing up, and well, we'd like you to stay. What would it take? We could do some work in the cottage to make it more of a permanent residence for you. Of course, if you stay long term, you'll probably want to find your own place in town, but for the few months or so, maybe it wouldn't be too bad to live close to your family? We've really enjoyed having you here."

  Callie thought about Bill's message earlier and her stressed reactions to Mara's comments. What did she really want out of life? She thought of the questions she had asked and Audrey's surprising conclusions about herself and happiness. It wasn't as if she hadn't given New York and the rest of the world a try. Maybe it was time she tried Skinner. New York would always be there if she wanted to go back to it.

  "First off, I think the cottage is going to need a bigger closet." Coral and Grandma Minnie gave a big cheer.

  They spent the remainder of the afternoon with a tape measure, sectioning a larger portion of the cottage for a bedroom and discussing what other sorts of furniture Callie might like to have. She was certain her things from New York would fit, but she didn't want to think about moving cross country quite yet. She still needed to survive the slug queen pageant on Saturday.

  Plans laid, they left the cottage and went into the kitchen. Coral said, "What's everyone want for dinner? I have some great veggies for a soup."

  Behind Coral, Grandma Minnie was shaking her head. "You know what mom? I feel like celebrating. Maybe we can go out? I'd love to take you to the Cloudburst."

  "You know, that sounds nice. Let's do it."

  They piled into Callie's rental car and drove into town. The rain hadn't let up yet and Callie could only hope it would stop before the pageant.

  The Cloudburst Pub was busy and they waited in the front area a few minutes while a table was being made ready.

  Callie saw Jorna Vitale-Cone walking through the restaurant towards them, apparently just finished with dinner.

  "Callie, and with Coral too! How nice to see you both,” Callie was a little surprised at her effusiveness as she always acted reserved at the committee meetings.

  "Jorna, it's good to see you as well," said Coral. She looked behind Jorna and greeted a tall gray haired man. "Mike, how are you?" she said reaching out to shake his hand. "This is my daughter Callie and my mother-in-law, Minnie. This is Mike, Jorna's partner."

  "It's a pleasure to meet you both," he said. "And good to see you again, Coral. How's my favorite organic garden doing?"

  "If you mean are the heirloom tomatoes ready ye
t, not quite," said Coral. "I'll make sure you get a batch when they are ripe."

  Jorna made a grimace. "Have you heard about Dot's garden?" she asked.

  "What's up with it? Every time I pass by the vegetables look so abundant I think they're going to walk off of the vines," said Coral. "I keep trying to get her to share her secret."

  "You may not want to use her particular brand of fertilizer. A couple of dogs dug up a body there today."

  "A body! You're serious?" said Coral in a shocked tone of voice.

  Callie hoped that Jacob didn't mind that his summer of free vegetables was more organic than intended. At least now he knew why the dogs were so attracted to the garden.

  "Do they know how long it's been there?" asked Grandma Minnie, always interested in details she could share at the hair salon.

  "The garden was laid about 2 months ago and there hasn't seemed to be any new earth turned since then," said Jorna. "The garden's in such a public location, I think it would have been noticed if anyone had done a lot of digging after that."

  "That's terrible," said Coral. "Has the poor soul been identified yet?"

  Jorna shook her head. "I haven't heard anything else."

  Saying goodnight, Jorna and Mike headed out of the Cloudburst while Callie, Coral and Grandma Minnie were taken to their table.

  Callie's head was spinning. There seemed to be more than a few things happening all in a time frame that started two months ago. Could they be connected? She wondered if Scott had been called in to investigate the body. For some reason, she kept thinking of the fact that the drug dealer he had been trying to track down had disappeared conveniently at the same time Sheldon Normal had been released from prison and had begun dealing again.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Callie woke to the sound of heavy rain on the cottage roof. It wasn't the rain that woke her, though. Her cell phone was ringing from across the room. It was Jeremy.

  "Callie?" he said. "I was wondering if you could come into town and meet with the committee this morning. I think we're having a bit of a weather problem."

  Callie agreed to meet at the Newsome Center at noon.

  She went back to the cottage and showered. She pulled out her index cards and began to make notes so she could have it clear in her mind what changes would need to be made to put her rain plan in action.

  Callie parked and went in. When she reached the conference room, she paused at the door, hearing upraised voices.

  "Jorna, it can't be that difficult. People will understand. None of this is impossible!" Callie stopped, listening intently. The day of Alex’s murder she had heard a woman's voice speaking in anger. Could this be the same person? She wasn't entirely sure.

  "But you don't understand. Do you know how hard it's going to be to reverse all this PR and get everyone going in another direction entirely?" asked Jorna.

  Callie pushed the door open and heard, "We hired you as the PR expert, so use your expertise. This can't be the first time in your career something like this has happened." The speaker was Dot Felson.

  Jeremy, was sitting at the conference table with Jorna, Dot and Kathleen. Marty wasn't present. "Callie, I'm glad you could make it. We're just discussing what our options might be with the weather."

  "What ideas do you have so far?" she asked.

  "Well, we aren't really sure what to do about the parade. It seems we either go on in the rain or we cancel it," said Jorna.

  Callie said, "Although I am the first to propose a rain plan, I have to admit the parade is a challenge and I think you've got it down to the only two options possible. So let's list some pros and cons. That usually clarifies which way a decision should go. What is good about canceling?" she asked.

  "No one has to stand out in the rain," said Kathleen.

  "None of the floats end up getting destroyed by heavy rain," said Dot.

  There was silence for a minute. "So what you're telling me is this is Skinner, Oregon and no one is actually going to mind standing in the rain, right?" she asked. "Does anyone have a store of ponchos or umbrellas or anything? We could hand those out with Cloudburst Pub stickers on them and get additional marketing out of it. For the folks on the floats, we could contact each one and warn them the parade goes forward rain or no rain and it's up to them to either make their floats more water resistant or pull them from the parade."

  Jeremy nodded. "The show must go on feeling, eh? This could make the parade even more of a community event than before with everyone demonstrating what troupers they are."

  "Exactly," said Callie.

  "What about the music stages? And the slug queen pageant?" asked Kathleen, her gray curls bobbing up and down in agitation.

  "The interior lobby of the Newsome Center is large enough to put up one of the stages, sort of like a catwalk. If we use it, the pageant will still have that sort of 'out on the street' feel even if it's indoors. Then we'll use the Straub Theater as a second music stage for the other musical acts you have scheduled."

  Everyone nodded. "So, I'll need the slug queens back tomorrow early so I can discuss the new stage set with them."

  Jeremy said, "I'll see if I can round them up."

  "Don't forget our charming emcee as well." She didn't relish seeing Kit Carter again, but he needed the practice as much as any of the contestants.

  "He might be more of a challenge."

  "He can be here as penance for not predicting this deluge," said Callie.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Callie dressed with care on Saturday morning, once again wearing the most formal blouse she had packed. She wanted to appear professional and look as if she was able to manage whatever the Slug Queen pageant would throw at her.

  Although she had tried to reach Scott the day before, leaving 3 voicemail messages, he had never returned her call and she gave up on hearing from him.

  She drove to the Newsome Center with her windshield wipers on high as the rain didn’t show any sign of stopping.

  As she entered the lobby, she saw that the set-up team must have been hard at work late into the previous evening. Instead of the usual wide-open lobby, staging had been set up to create a t-shape. There was a large square main stage with a long walkway radiating out to the front. Trusses had been set up that now held colored lights. Callie’s favorite part though, were the three disco balls, spinning and casting a myriad of rainbows on the walls and floor.

  She saw Scott on the other side of the catwalk talking with a uniformed officer. She waved at him and as he saw her, they both began to walk. Their paths intersected at the end of the runway.

  "How come you haven't returned my calls?" asked Callie.

  He ran his hand through his hair. "Police business and politics combined as a couple of dogs dug up a man’s body in the mayor's corner garden. That became my top priority yesterday afternoon."

  "Do you know how he got there?"

  "It looked as if the guy had been hit by a car and then buried," he said. "We're thinking he got planted right before the garden was laid down."

  "Would these dogs be named Garcia and Jerry and belong to a transient named Jacob? And the body belongs to the drug dealer who disappeared a couple of months ago?"

  "His name was Benny Green. Why do I even investigate this stuff? I should just be coming straight to you." His tone of voice was incredulous. "How do you know?"

  "It's sort of complicated to explain," she said. "But if you understood how I knew that, you'd know the person you need to arrest for the murders of both your dealer and Alex Herrman is Dot Felson."

  He was silent for a moment. "I'm thinking you must have fairly good intuition or whatever you call it to make that accusation, but unfortunately, I can't investigate a hair on her head without some sort of evidence that points directly to her."

  "The timeline all fits. The garden is dug two months ago; the dealer disappears two months ago, Sheldon Normal gets out of prison two months ago and takes up where the old dealer left off."

  "Wait a m
inute. How did we jump to Sheldon? What's his role in all this?"

  She answered with a question of her own. "Why didn't Sheldon Normal get a tougher sentence?"

  "It wasn't my case," he said. "I assumed he became an informant or made some sort of plea deal."

  "He did. But it wasn't with the judicial system. It was with Dot Felson and then she pulled some strings to get him a deal. If you started with the deal and worked backwards, you could probably prove this. I was told someone fixed Sheldon Normal's sentence in exchange for information on drug dealing that he did and that the information went to the mayor."

  "So far this all sounds good, but I'm not seeing any hard evidence," he said. "In fact, if what you're saying about Sheldon Normal is true, I'd have an easier time bringing him in than the mayor."

  "Let me ask you a question first," she said, as he rolled his eyes impatiently. "It will be worth it, I promise. What exactly did Alex Herrman write to Steven in that message on the computer?"

  He looked puzzled. "You saw it, just the same as I did. She just wrote 'Dear Steven' and nothing else."

  "Well, if you were writing a letter, what punctuation would you use? I mean, what would you use after the main salutation?"

  "I guess I'd use a comma," he said. "Why?"

  "Alex's note, written in a hidden font, said 'Dear Steven, followed by an ellipsis, which could also be read as dot, dot..."

  Scott finished the sentence for her. "Dot. Alex was trying to leave a message that wouldn't be deleted if Dot found it and warn Steven."

  "In the committee meeting yesterday Dot was yelling at Jorna and I'm positive that was the voice I heard yelling at Molluska off-stage the night she was killed. I think Molluska knew something about Benny Green’s disappearance and was using it to try and blackmail Dot."

  Scott shook his head. "Dots in an unfinished letter, unprovable voice evidence and a coincidental timeline. Got anything else, other than intuition, on this? Plus, what motive does Dot have in killing Benny? I'm not disagreeing with you here, but I'm not sure this is enough to bring her in."