Shelley Freydont - Celebration Bay 03 - Independence Slay

by Shelley Freydont

  “It sounds like a lot of trouble to me,” Rufus said. “Why can’t Phillip Schorr just run it in one of the rooms in the church?”

  “He will if he has to, but since so many of the participants aren’t Presbyterians, he would like to keep it in a neutral space.”

  Mayor Worley cleared his throat. “How much do you expect this to cost the taxpayers?”

  One of the mayor’s favorite questions. Liv had prepared for it. “As I see it, there are several options, including the possibility that someone could donate the building to the town for the express use of the community center. We could even name it after their family.”

  The men all nodded. They liked the idea of not having to raise money.

  “There’s always the bond route.”

  Gilbert Worley had started shaking his head before she’d finished the sentence. “People are just beginning to recover from the bad economy. They don’t want to pay more taxes.”

  “And if they don’t want the community center, they just have to vote against it. But there will need to be some way to keep the center afloat in the interim,” Liv said.

  “Or,” she continued, “we could have a capital fund-raiser and ask for donations until we have enough funds. Put one of those big thermometers in the square so people can see how close to goal we are. A constant reminder and an inspiration to give.”

  “Maybe we should look into it,” Rufus said. “My mother-in-law goes on Tuesday and Thursday to do some kind of classes. I’d pay to keep her there.” He blushed furiously. “I didn’t meant it like that.”

  “We know what you mean, Rufus. And we completely understand.” Roscoe tried to stop a laugh but only managed to splutter.

  “It’s not the worst idea, Mayor.” Jeremiah folded his hands on the table, looking every bit the banker—and landlord. “A decent building and the right amount of collateral for the mortgage. It would be a service to the community.”

  Liv’s cell vibrated. She slipped it out of her bag and glanced at caller ID, wondering who on earth would be calling her now.

  Her landladies. They knew she was at a meeting; something must be wrong. Liv stood. “Excuse me, gentlemen. I’ll be right back.” She grabbed her bag and walked calmly outside to the hallway, where she swiped her finger across the phone and said, “Is everything okay?”

  “No,” said Miss Edna. “There’s a brawl over at McCready’s Pub. We just heard it on the police band.”

  The police band was the number-one evening entertainment for a good portion of Celebration Bay residents. “Oh dear, but what—”

  “The sheriff is on his way over there and they’ve requested backup.”

  “But—”

  “Now, you listen up. One of the perpetrators is Chaz Bristow, and I think you’d better get over there and do something.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chaz in a brawl? And Bill on his way? He’d throw the book at him.

  “Okay, we’re on our way.” Liv ended the call, though she didn’t have a clue as to how she and Ted could help.

  She hurried back to the meeting room, stuck her head in the door. “Sorry, I need to borrow Ted for a minute.”

  Ted rose and was across the room before she took a breath, and he managed it without even looking like he was hurrying. He stepped into the hall. Liv closed the door.

  “That was Edna. There’s a fight at McCready’s. Bill is on his way to arrest Chaz.” A bit of a stretch but the best shorthand she could accomplish.

  “I’m on it. We’d better take the car. We might need to make a hasty escape.” He opened the door to the meeting room. “Sorry, meeting adjourned.” Then he took off down the hall to the back entrance.

  “I’m coming, too.” Liv only glanced at the closed door of the meeting room, then she ran after Ted.

  For a man who must be well into his sixties, Ted could run. He was already in his SUV and firing up the ignition when Liv, the trained runner, got to the parking lot.

  Ted reversed out of the parking space and sped forward, slowing down just enough for Liv to jump into the passenger seat. As they turned the corner out of the parking lot, they heard sirens converging across the green.

  It seemed to take forever to make the three-quarter round of the square. It was a balmy night, and people were out. A crowd had gathered across the street from McCready’s, which was rarely a scene of trouble. And never on a Tuesday night.

  A police cruiser blocked that section of the street. Ted merely stopped the SUV in the middle of the street and got out. Liv followed without questioning. Meese and several other officers were keeping the crowd at—hopefully—a safe distance across the street.

  He saw Ted and Liv, and frowned, but Ted just nodded and practically shoved Liv past the police line. Meese made no attempt to stop them.

  Halfway across the street, Ted seemed to realize that he’d brought Liv with him. “You’d better stay back with Meese,” he yelled over sirens and the ruckus coming from McCready’s as the door opened and a body was tossed out to the sidewalk.

  “No way,” Liv yelled back. “You’ve brought me this far. But what are you planning to do?”

  “I’m not sure. But this is what you’re going to do.” He handed her his keys. “Go back to the SUV and drive it around the back to the alley behind McCready’s. Wait for me. If I don’t show, I’ll text you and tell you what to do.”

  Liv took the keys and, without asking for more explanation, ran for the car. Once there, she backed the SUV to the corner, made a two-point turn, and drove around the block to get as close to the pub as she could.

  She left the engine running, like her adrenaline. She had no idea what was so urgent. Chaz obviously was part of the brawl. It only surprised her that he’d bothered to get involved.

  There’d been a night when he’d watched her apply a few moves she’d learned in her martial arts class to a couple of jerks while he stood in the doorway and watched.

  And what was with her mild-mannered assistant? Ted rarely showed any sign of excitement or any extreme emotion. He was the calmest person she knew. But tonight he was moving at warp speed and was totally focused. She’d only seen that energy once before, and it had not boded well for the man who had been its object.

  She let out a squeak a few minutes later when the back door opened and a body fell into the backseat. Ted slammed the door and ran around to the driver’s side. He opened the door, and shouted “Move over!” as he climbed in, which Liv did with alacrity.

  The SUV jerked into reverse, wheels screeching, and they backed all the way down the street, where they turned east and left the scene behind.

  Chaz was slumped in the backseat, looking even worse than the last time she’d seen him. “Did we just break the law?” Liv asked Ted as they sped away.

  He looked over at her and grinned. “Just a little bit.”

  The SUV slowed and they continued at a sedate pace to the Clarion office. Ted glanced over his shoulder and seemed to vacillate on what to do next.

  “On second thought, do you have a first-aid kit at your place?” he asked Liv.

  “I have first-aid supplies.”

  “Mind if we… ?” He nodded toward the backseat, where Chaz hadn’t said a word, had not even whined, moaned, or groaned like he usually did at the slightest inconvenience.

  “I guess not.” She doubted if they could find first-aid supplies at the Clarion office, even if Chaz possessed any, and it seemed that going to Ted’s was not an option. “Sure.”

  Ted made a U-turn in the middle of the street and, swinging several blocks out of the way to avoid the green, he sedately drove the three blocks to the Zimmermans’ old Victorian. As soon as he pulled into the driveway, the lights to the Zimmerman sisters’ Victorian popped on.

  He drove all the way back to Liv’s carriage house and got out of the SUV. While Liv unlocked he
r front door, Ted hauled Chaz’s carcass out of the backseat. He smelled like a brewery, and she really wasn’t excited about having him stinking up her house, but she was also curious as to why he’d been in a fight and why Ted had felt it necessary to whisk him away as if it was a raid at a gin joint in the twenties, not an altercation at the local pub.

  Chaz managed to glare at her through one half-open eye as Ted dragged him past.

  “I’ll get some ice,” Liv said, and hurried to the kitchen while Ted dumped Chaz on her less-than-a-year-old couch. “I’ll make coffee, too.”

  “I’m not drunk,” Chaz mumbled. “I’m wearing this booze.”

  “You may not need it, but we do.”

  She headed for the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. First things first. Filled a plastic bag with ice cubes, gathered several clean dish towels, then detoured to the bathroom for first-aid supplies.

  She didn’t want to think about whether Chaz was really hurt or not. She soaked a washcloth in cold water and grabbed another towel and returned to the living room. Chaz was propped up in a seated position. Ted was standing over him, fists on his hips and looking like thunder.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” He saw Liv and clamped down on what he was going to say next. But Liv had already heard him all the way in her bedroom. He was pretty angry at Chaz. But she didn’t really understand why.

  Chaz tried to get up but Ted pushed him, none too gently, back onto the couch. Liv put her supplies down on the coffee table and took a good look. Chaz’s T-shirt was torn, blood had left a trail of splatters down the front. His lip was split, his eye was swollen and already turning black.

  It turned her stomach, but she just said, “Lose any teeth, tough guy?”

  “Too early to tell,” he mumbled, or at least that’s what she thought he said; his lip made everything come out without consonants.

  Liv looked at Ted, realized he wasn’t about to apply first aid, so she took the bag of ice, folded it into a towel, and placed it as gently as she could on Chaz’s face. “Hold this,” she ordered, and reached for the wet cloth.

  She was dabbing at his mouth and was beginning to worry, since he wasn’t whining or complaining like he usually did but was just sitting there like a lump, when there was a knock at the door.

  “I’ll get it,” Ted said, and strode away.

  Liv lifted her eyebrows at Chaz. He gave her a one-shoulder shrug. Maybe it hurt too much to raise both of them.

  “Hope we’re not intruding,” said Ida as she and Edna bustled into the room.

  “Heard it on the scanner,” Edna explained. “When we saw Ted’s SUV outside, we figured out what was going on.”

  Considering she had been the one to call her, Liv guessed that was an understatement.

  Ida began taking things out of a basket she’d carried in: a plate of sandwiches, a plastic container of what looked like lemonade, a bottle of spring water, and a real first-aid kit with a red cross on the metal top.

  Edna eased Liv out of the way and peered down at Chaz, shaking her head. “You are in trouble, young man.” She took the cloth from Liv and made short work of cleaning the cut.

  “I imagine the sheriff will be here shortly,” Ida said. “We didn’t snitch. But Bill is no dummy. Something you would do well to remember,” she said, casting a disapproving look at Chaz.

  “There seems to be some question as to the whereabouts of a certain participant,” Miss Edna said. “And you…” She reached out and lifted Ted’s right hand for inspection. “Really Ted, you should know better.”

  The knuckles were grazed. Liv stared at him openmouthed. Ted had joined the brawl?

  “Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do.” He turned on Chaz. “Especially when one of his friends is acting like… I can’t even say it. There are ladies present.

  “So, before Bill gets here, would you like to tell us why you got suckered into that? You’re usually smarter.”

  They all stopped at the sound of another car pulling up outside. Chaz moved as if he might try to escape. Ted pushed him back to the couch.

  “Stupid. Keep your mouth shut.”

  Liv blinked. Edna and Ida looked shocked.

  Liv went to answer the door.

  Bill was alone, but he wasn’t happy.

  He glanced at Ted as he came into the room. “I’ll talk to you later.” He stopped and looked down at Chaz, shook his head. “Fall down the stairs or step in front of the car?”

  Chaz opened his mouth.

  “Fell down the stairs,” Ted said.

  “I took Chalmers and the Weaver brothers and several others down to the station. They’ll probably make bail before I get there. But you. You’ve got to promise me to keep a lid on your temper, or I’m going to lock you up. And that’s going to look pretty bad, considering the recent past.”

  Liv was totally confused. What recent past? Had Chaz been in trouble lately? She didn’t think he’d bother to do anything so energetic, unless maybe he’d forgotten to renew his fishing license.

  She and the sisters stood like a silent chorus in the background while a drama that at least Liv didn’t understand played out in her living room.

  “Can you agree to that? No matter the provocation?”

  “Sure. Can I go home now?”

  “You better watch yourself or they’re going to drag your sorry—you back to LA.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll behave. Can I go now?”

  “Are you okay?”

  Chaz nodded slightly.

  “I’ll drive you home.”

  Chaz pushed himself off the couch and pitched forward. He would have landed on the coffee table if Ted and Bill hadn’t grabbed for him and lowered him back to the couch.

  “He might have a concussion,” Miss Ida said. “We’ll take him home with us.”

  Bill looked skeptical; Ted, amused. The two men exchanged looks.

  “Excellent idea,” Bill said with what Liv thought was unholy glee.

  “Thanks, but I can take care of—”

  “Or you can recover in a jail cell.”

  Chaz started to get up again.

  Liv pushed him back down. “Oh no you don’t. Everyone is staying right here until you tell me what that was all about.”

  Bill didn’t look happy but he didn’t contradict her. “Well, since I have to question Ted anyway…”

  “And Liv,” Chaz said from behind the ice pack, which was beginning to drip.

  “Me?” said Liv.

  “Liv?” Bill asked.

  Chaz grinned, or at least he tried to. His lip was too swollen to move, but Liv could see the grin in his eyes—eye—the one that wasn’t swollen shut.

  “She drove the getaway car.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Bill groaned. “I wondered how you ended up here.”

  “I think you should arrest her.” Chaz moved the ice pack from his eye to his lip.

  “Oh, be quiet.”

  Bill looked to the ceiling, then at Edna and Ida, who had begun to fuss over Chaz.

  “We’ll stay,” said Miss Ida, and sat down beside Chaz.

  “Good idea, Ida.” Miss Edna sat in the only other chair in the room.

  Liv and Ted went to get coffee, mugs, and chairs from the kitchen.

  Ida poured coffee while Edna passed around the sandwich plate. She didn’t offer one to Chaz. Liv didn’t think he could open his mouth wide enough to bite, much less chew.

  Bill lowered himself to a straight-backed chair.

  “Bill Gunnison,” Miss Ida said at her strictest, “you should be taking something for that back.”

  “I will when I get home. And I’d be home if some people didn’t start brawls in McCready’s Pub.”

  Both sisters looked shocked and turned their disapproval on Chaz.

 
“It wasn’t my fault,” Chaz mumbled.

  “What happened?” Liv demanded, no longer able to hold on to her impatience.

  “I was in McCready’s,” Chaz said. “Minding my own business. Then the Weavers and that—and Cliff Chalmers came in. They started talking smack about the murder and Leo. They said he was staying at the rectory and they’d really scared the”—his one good eye roved around the room, pausing on each sister and giving Liv the creeps—“scared the expletive deleted out of him. They laughed and said they were going to do it again and did anybody want to go with them.” He moved the ice pack back to his eye.

  Liv shook out two ibuprofen from the bottle in her medicine cabinet and handed them to him. Handed two more to Bill, who swallowed them with a gulp of coffee.

  Chaz did the same, only half the coffee dribbled back out of his mouth.

  “Damn.” He held up his hand. “Sorry, sorry.” This was directed at the sisters, who were not at all fazed by his use of the word. Liv was sure they’d heard worse, but they had that effect on people. She’d seen them shut up grown men with a look or a word. Chaz should have sent them to McCready’s. They would have made short work of the Weaver brothers.

  “And?” Bill prodded.

  “So I told them to cut the—to stop. Cliff said something I can’t repeat, and I punched him. That’s all.”

  “All? McCready’s is a war zone. Tables and chairs overturned, glasses broken. Mike is fit to be tied. And who can blame him?”

  “I’ll pay for it. It was worth it.”

  “Was it? This breaks your bail agreement.”

  “Bail?” Liv blurted out in surprise.

  “Bail?” gasped the sisters.

  This time Chaz finally groaned.

  Bill glared at him. “This yo-yo got himself arrested in LA for taking the law into his own hands like some latter-day Wyatt Earp.”

  Chaz leaned back on the couch and shut his eyes.

  “Fortunately they caught him before he did any damage. He got off easy, considering.”