by B. T. Lord
Cammie quickly settled back into her duties as Sheriff of Clarke County. During the first week of May, Emmy had put up her Memorial Day tree in the window of HQ, its twinkling lights nestled next to ornaments of blossoming flowers and little toy boats to reflect the official beginning of summer.
Ever since she’d taken office as sheriff, she’d been intrigued by Emmy’s holiday trees. She couldn’t figure out where the young receptionist was able to find all the different ornaments and decorations for each of the major holidays, but she’d grown accustomed to seeing the tree in the window of HQ every day when she arrived. The trees had an added bonus - it helped her remember which holiday was coming up.
The warm weather was late in arriving. When it finally did arrive, it grew hot so quickly that the snows melted rapidly, bringing on the dreaded mud season almost a month later than normal. Everyone hated mud season when unpaved roads became morasses of sticky gooey mud that easily trapped unsuspecting travelers. Cammie, Rick, Jace and her part-time deputies spent many an afternoon answering 911 calls to pull cars or trucks out of mud pits or up inclines they were bounced into by the deep ruts. Yet everyone handled the yearly occurrence with surprising good humor because they knew that once mud season was over, summer was here. No more heavy coats, shoveling snow, or battling freezing winds and blizzards. It was as though all of Twin Ponds was reborn as the thermostat edged its way towards balmy temperatures.
No more was said of Helen, or Lily or any of the family drama Doc had left behind in Boston. Cammie didn’t dare ask; she didn’t want to touch that particular sore point. But as the days and weeks went by, she was relieved to see that he’d returned to his loveable curmudgeon ways. She was also thankful he hadn’t brought up London or meeting the Royals again - not that she wouldn’t have minded sightseeing in England. Perhaps in the future. Right now, her focus was on strengthening her relationship with Jace. And on the project they’d both embarked on – finally undertaking the renovations to the cabin they shared. In order to get the work started, they found an architect in Presque Isle who they hoped would help them realize their ideas.
Cammie also let the town know that on the last Saturday in June, she would finally hold a small ceremony on the banks of Waban Pond to spread Eli Kelley’s ashes over the water. The pond was where he’d gotten his start to what would be a stellar career in the National Hockey League. She couldn’t think of a better place to honor his memory and give the people much needed closure as they said their final good-byes to the man who had meant so much to this small town.
It was mid-May and the temperatures were hovering around a comfortable sixty-five degrees. Cammie was in her office writing up a report on a minor fender bender. The owner of one of the vehicles had neglected to take his medicine, resulting in a bout of dizziness at the wheel of his Dodge Truck. Before he knew it, he’d rear ended his neighbor at the 2ndof two stop lights on Main Street. Cammie was able to handle it easily and was now finishing up the report on her computer. Just as she hit the Save key, she heard a knock on her door.
“Sheriff, could I talk to you about something?” Cammie turned and saw it was Emmy.
“Sure, come in.”
Emmy came in and sat down. As was her custom, the young woman wore a yellow ribbon in her long, dark hair to match her yellow and white blouse.
When Cammie swung away from the computer, she immediately noticed how nervous Emmy looked. She was licking her lips and wringing her hands in her lap. Her first thought was that Rick had done something to hurt the young woman.
She knew Emmy harbored a deep crush on the deputy. She felt bad for her; the young woman wasn’t Rick’s type at all and he was too busy dating every woman in Clarke County to ever notice the slightly plump, quiet receptionist. Yet whether it was because of Emmy’s near death experience a few months before, or the fact that it was Rick who had saved her, she’d noticed a closeness emerging between the two. She’d made the decision to stay out of it. They were both adults. Nevertheless, she still kept a wary eye out, praying that Rick wouldn’t hurt the sensitive, vulnerable young woman.
“Is something wrong?”
“Not really. Well, maybe. I’m not sure.”
Cammie stood up and closed the door to her office. She then returned to her desk and sat down. “Whatever is going on in your life, you know you can talk to me.”
Emmy’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, it has nothing to do with me! I’m fine. It has to do with Doc’s family and what you told Rick and me about that whole situation.”
“Doc?”
She nodded. “I’ve been thinking it over. I mean, some things just didn’t make sense, you know. Who has two husbands disappear? I know it was on opposite sides of the earth, but I still thought that was strange. I thought it was even stranger that his cousin Lily didn’t even seem to care too much that her mother was dead. I know Rick said the rich are weird, but I thought that was beyond weird.”
“Em, not everyone has the type of close relationship you have with your mother.”
Suffocating was more like it, though of course she would never share that opinion with her young receptionist.
Ever since Mrs. Madachuck’s husband had died a few years back, she’d made Emmy, followed by the local church, the sole focus of her life. If Emmy was five minutes late getting home, her mother would be phoning, convinced something terrible had happened to her precious daughter. After Emmy’s recent experience, the woman had gotten worse. Cammie was surprised she let Emmy come to work, much less at the Sheriff’s Department. But, as she’d come to see, there was a rod of steel running down the young woman’s spine. Which she admired and was grateful for.
“Oh I know. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, but I started doing some digging. It was really just to satisfy my own curiosity than anything else. That’s why I didn’t say anything to you about it. And I wouldn’t have said anything at all. Except-”
Cammie’s heart began to beat rapidly. “You found something?”
She nodded. “I know this isn’t your case, so you can’t really ask for phone records and all that. So I just started poking around.”
“And?” Cammie asked, ready to jump out of her skin.
“There was a ping from Charles Evans’ cell phone on a tower that would have picked up any signals from Helen’s house.”
Cammie’s eyes widened. “When was that?”
“It was on March 1st.”
“That was two weeks before he died, and one month before Helen was killed.”
“That’s not all I found. When I searched further, I saw that Lily’s cell phone also pinged at the same tower on the same date.”
“I knew it! I knew that’s why she lied to me about not knowing anything about Henry Harding. Now we know that she and Charles did go up to see Helen a month before she died.”
“I’m not sure that means anything, but I thought I’d let you know. I hope you don’t mind what I did.”
“No, not at all. On the contrary. That’s one small piece of the puzzle falling into place.”
“Do you think they went up to see Helen because they found out she’d changed her will?”
Cammie met Emmy’s eye. “Considering Helen changed her will near the end of February, it sounds like the perfect excuse to me.”
She spent the day debating whether she should say anything to Doc. He appeared to have moved on and she didn’t wish to upset him. But this was proof that Lily had lied, not only once but twice about the last time she’d seen her mother. There was only one reason behind it and it gnawed at her. Finally, after telling Jace she’d be a little late getting home, she drove out to Doc’s cabin.
She knocked and a few moments later, the door opened.
Doc, who was still wearing his lab coat over a pair of black slacks and a white shirt, smiled at the sight of her. “Well, what a surprise.”
“I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“No. I finished with my last patient just before you arrived. I was about to
pour myself a glass of wine. Can I pour you one?”
She followed him into the kitchen where the bottle of wine and a glass were sitting on the counter. “No thanks. Jace is making supper.”
He poured the red wine into the glass. “To what do I owe this detour? Especially when I find out your hockey player is waiting for you at home?”
Cammie sat down at the counter, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. “I actually debated all day whether I should bring this to your attention. But at the end, I thought you should know.”
“This sounds ominous.”
“It has to do with Lily and Charles.”
Doc stilled for a moment, then took a long sip of his wine. “Have they found Charles’ body?”
“No, nothing like that.” She then told him what Emmy had told her. “Now I wouldn’t have given it much thought. Obviously she and her husband are allowed to visit her mother. But it’s the fact that she twice lied to us that bothers me. And the fact that they visited her about a week after she changed her will.”
She watched his face carefully, waiting for his reaction. She expected him to explode, to demand that she mind her own business and leave all this alone. To her surprise, he remained quietly pensive.
“It does beg the question why she’d feel the need to lie,” Doc replied.
“Exactly.”
Doc stared into space for a moment, thoughtfully rubbing the stem of his wineglass between his fingers. “Whatever your instincts may be telling you, what you’ve just said still doesn’t prove that Henry Harding wasn’t the one who killed Helen.”
She met his gaze. “Tell me Doc, do you honestly think he did it?”
“Obviously you don’t.”
“I have nothing to back it up, but he just doesn’t strike me as a killer. A man desperate to save his farm, yes. But to actually take a gun and shoot her? And would Helen, knowing how acrimonious the situation had grown between them, actually turn her back to him?” She glanced at him. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to find out if they knew about the changes Helen made to her will?”
“Lily will never admit it if she did know. And Charles is no longer around to ask.” Doc took another long sip of wine. “Of course I don’t approve of what your receptionist is doing. She’s obviously been spending too much time in your company. However, if she does choose on her own to continue digging, there isn’t anything you or I can do about that, is there?”
Cammie smiled. It wasn’t an outright approval, but she was good at reading between the lines. And she knew Doc would like this mystery solved as much as she did.
The next day Cammie gave Emmy a tacit okay to see what else she could find. She eagerly took to the task and during the day, between her regular responsibilities, she continued pecking away, caught up in the mystery as much as Cammie was.
For the next few days, Cammie tried to tamp down her impatience by keeping herself occupied with the architectural plans for the cabin. They’d gotten the blueprints and one night, after dinner, she and Jace had them spread out over the coffee table. They were just going over them when her cell rang. Looking at the display, she quickly answered.
“Hey Em.”
“Sheriff. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“No. We just finished dinner.”
“I would have waited until tomorrow, but I thought you’d want to know.”
“Know what?”
“Well, after seeing that Charles Evans was in Allagash on March 1st, I continued checking out his cell phone records.”
“That must have been interesting. According to what I heard, he was a real globe trotter.”
“Well, that’s the thing. I figured I could at least pick up his trail after his trip to Maine and before he left the marina the day of his death.”
Cammie’s stomach clenched. “But?” she prompted. There was a hesitation on the phone.
“Well, the fact is, there are no records after March 1st. It’s like Charles Evans disappeared way before he ever got to San Francisco.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
There was a long pause. Finally Emmy broke the silence. “What are you thinking, Sheriff?”
“You said the newspapers reported that Charles’ body was never found, correct?”
“That’s right.” Suddenly Emmy gasped. “Oh my! You don’t think-”
“I’m not sure yet. I need to sit with this for a bit. What about Lily’s phone?”
“The signal showed she was in the Boston area the day before Helen’s death. The next signal is the day after when it shows she was in Manchester-by-the-Sea. I’ll keep digging and see if I can find anything else.”
Cammie hung up and sat back on the couch. Jace came into the living room.
“The dishes are ready to be washed whenever you-” He stopped when he saw the deep look of concentration on her face. “Uh oh. You look like you just discovered what really happened to Jimmy Hoffa.”
“Not quite so monumental.”
He sat down next to her. “Was that Emmy on the phone?”
Cammie nodded and shared their conversation with him. When she was done, he gave her a disapproving look. “I’m not telling you how to do your job, but don’t you think that what Emmy is doing is illegal?”
Cammie turned and looked into Jace’s eyes. “What’s worse? Having Emmy doing what she’s doing, or having an innocent man go to jail for a murder he didn’t commit while the real perpetrator skates away scott free?”
“Good point. So what are your conclusions?”
“Charles and Lily went up to see Helen on March 1st. I believe they went up there because somehow they found out she’d changed her will and they were hoping to change her mind. Or maybe they went up there to ask for more money, especially in light of the fact that Charles owed three dangerous criminals close to $4 million. What if she told them both to take a hike? Charles is desperate now. He’s got some nasty thugs after him. So maybe one of either two things happened. The Unholy Trio actually managed to bump Charles off. Or he faked his own death.” Jace gave her a dubious look. “Think about it. Two weeks after his meeting with Helen, he supposedly dies in a boating accident. But his body was never found. Don’t forget, Charles had connections all over the world. His job was to hide all the scandals and foibles of the rich and famous. Who better would know where to lie low until things calmed down?”
“So where does Helen’s murder figure into all this?”
“What if, after getting refused the first time, he decides to try again? Maybe he figures he won’t get $4 million to pay off Sherazanko, Buttarazzi and Temple, but maybe he can get enough to set up a new life for himself? Somewhere in the world where Helen and Lily never have to deal with him again. Yet, for whatever reason, Helen refuses again. He’s beyond desperate now. This is his life in her hands. When she says no, he loses it and kills her in a fit of rage.”
Jace ran a hand over his chin. “I don’t know, Cam. It seems a bit complicated.”
“For us, maybe. But Charles was dealing with people he never should have ever gotten involved with. It may have taken something as complicated as this to get him out of hot water and save his own skin.”
“So you think he may still be alive?”
“If those three lowlifes didn’t kill him, I’d say there’s a good possibility he is.”
“Once again, it comes down to Lily, doesn’t it?”
Cammie nodded. “The records show she was in Massachusetts the day before and the day after her mother died. But they don’t show where she was the day of Helen’s death.” She met Jace’s gaze. “She’s the key to all of this. I can feel it in my gut.”
He smiled. “Maybe what you’re feeling is my chicken cacciatore.”
She chuckled. “Only if I’d been the one cooking it.”
The next day Cammie was seated at her desk, going over some paperwork when she looked up and saw Rick poke his head in. She guffawed when she saw the exhaustion clearly lined on his face.
“Your da
te last night must have been a humdinger. Did you get any sleep?”
It was well known throughout town that Rick’s idea of a relationship was one that lasted more than a week. Despite working with him for almost two years, she still couldn’t figure out how he managed to stay friends with all his exes. Which, by this time, probably took up just about every woman under the age of forty in all of Clarke County.
He slunk in and threw himself in the chair opposite her desk. “I wish I could say it was a hot date. Instead, I spent most of the night looking for my cousin’s little rug rat of a dog, Cuddles.”
“Cuddles?” Cammie asked, trying not to laugh.
“It’s one of those yappy little Yorkshire terriers. Somehow it ran out of the house and disappeared into the woods. Dory was terrified some predator was going to snatch it so she called the family in to try and find him.” He rubbed his eyes with his hands. “If any predator was smart, it would have stayed way away from the little runt.”
“Sounds like you don’t like Cuddles very much.”
“I like animals, don’t get me wrong. This one though-” He shook his head.
“How can you hate a dog named Cuddles?”
“Cuz it should have been called ‘Nipper’. Every time I go over there, the damned thing wraps itself around my ankle and goes to town gnawing on my shin bone.”
“So did you find Cuddles?”
“We finally found him at dawn. The little shit was under her front porch the whole time. But not before she called in our other cousin Gene to take his new plane up to see if he could spot him.” He looked plaintively at her. “Do you know how embarrassing it is to be yelling out “Cuddles, come here! Come on, Cuddles. Come to Daddy.”
At this point Cammie couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. Rick looked morosely at her, then quickly joined her in her laughter.
“If it turns out to be a quiet day, why don’t you knock off early and go get some sleep?” Cammie suggested as she watched him get up and leave her office.