Debra Burroughs - Paradise Valley 06 - The Harbor of Lies

by Debra Burroughs

  Chapter 9

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shock you like that, Ella. We were all surprised it was Pastor Ben.” Chief Taylor bent down and picked up the larger pieces of broken china.

  “Please excuse me for a minute.” She dashed to the kitchen and returned with a fluffy white kitchen towel and began cleaning up the spilled tea. “Oh dear.” She pressed it into the carpet a few times, tears still trickling down her cheeks. With her fingers, she wiped under her eyes and then took a deep breath, settling back onto the sofa. “I wondered why he hadn’t come down for breakfast. I just thought he’d left early for work. He does that sometimes, you know, meets folks for breakfast and the like.”

  “How well did you know Pastor Ben?” Chief Taylor asked.

  “Well, I just…oh, I don’t know, it was…hmm…why do you ask?”

  Why was she hesitating?

  “Just trying to get the facts,” the chief replied.

  She sniffled loudly. “I don’t understand why you think I know anything.”

  Colin scooted to the edge of his chair. “The senior pastor at the Community Church told us you pressured him to hire Ben. That tells us you knew him before he moved here.”

  Her gaze flew to Chief Taylor. There seemed to be pleading in her eyes, as if she was hoping he’d let it go.

  “You need to answer the question,” the chief pressed.

  She used a dry corner of the kitchen towel and dabbed at her eyes. “Yes, I knew him before he came here, for quite some time actually. When I heard that the church was looking to hire someone, I thought he would be perfect for it. He needed to get out of the situation he was in and the church needed an associate pastor. So I recommended him. That’s all.”

  “What kind of situation?” Colin asked.

  “I’m not sure. I hadn’t seen him for years. Then one day he contacted me and asked if I knew of any job opportunities around here. When the opening at the church came up, I put him in contact with Pastor Jansen.”

  “Good timing.” Colin didn’t hesitate to flavor his words with a bit of sarcasm.

  “No, Detective, providence,” she replied emphatically.

  “Ella, I need to ask where you were last night between six and eight o’clock,” Chief Taylor asked, knowing that Colin would if he didn’t.

  “Me? You think I had something to do with this murder?”

  “I have to ask everyone so I can eliminate those with a solid alibi,” the chief retorted.

  “Well, I was here of course, cleaning up after dinner. I set out some oatmeal raisin cookies on the sideboard, then went to my room and watched a little television before I went to bed.”

  “We’re only concerned with the time between six and eight o’clock,” Colin said. “Can anyone verify that, Mrs. McCormack?”

  She pursed her lips and her gaze rose toward the ceiling. “Those that were here for dinner.”

  “But they would have finished dinner by then, wouldn’t they?” the chief asked. “By the time you were in the kitchen cleaning up, right?”

  “I served dinner at six, then cleaned up. Someone might have seen me in the kitchen, I can’t really say. But you know me, Alvin, I wouldn’t hurt a fly, especially not Ben.”

  “Hmm.” Colin studied her face and her demeanor, trying to determine if she was telling the truth. “We’d like to see his room, if you don’t mind?” he said, hoping no evidence had been removed since last night.

  “Ben’s room?” Her eyes flashed wide for a moment, then narrowed. “I do mind, young man.”

  Something didn’t feel right.

  The petite woman stood and planted her hands on her hips, her gaze going to the chief. “It’s bad for business, Alvin. I can’t have the police traipsing around my house, scaring off my guests. They won’t want to stay if they see you two tearing up his room and talking about his—” her lips trembled and her eyes filled with tears again, “his murder.”

  Colin stood too. “I’m sorry this is upsetting for you, ma’am, but—”

  The chief shot up out of his seat, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “You know this has to be done. Are you telling me I have to get a warrant, Madam Mayor?”

  She wiped her fingers over her damp cheeks and stared at the men defiantly.

  What was she afraid of? Was there something that would incriminate her, or was she worried they would find out Pastor Ben was not who he claimed to be and she had known?

  “What’s going on here, Ella?” Chief Taylor asked. “I’d think you’d want to do all you could to help find your friend’s killer.”

  “Not to mention how it’ll look having the mayor of this tourist town impeding a murder investigation,” Colin added. “I can’t see how that would be good for your re-election—or your Bed and Breakfast business.”

  The mayor eyed Colin for a prolonged moment, as if letting his words sink in, or hoping he would back down.

  Finally, she sighed. “Oh, all right, just please try to be quiet about it. I can’t afford to have guests checking out. Upstairs, room six.”

  The men followed her up the steps and down the hall, where she unlocked the door for them.

  Her eyes narrowed and she gave the men a sharp look. “Remember, quiet.” She pushed the door open and let them in.

  Colin followed the chief in, then turned back to Mrs. McCormack. “Thank you.”

  Standing in the doorway, she nodded at him. “You’re welcome.” Her sad gaze floated from the bed, to the chair, then the dresser, before she left them alone and went back down the stairs.

  The chief and Colin both glanced around the room as they slipped on their gloves and began carefully going through Ben’s things, looking in the dresser drawers, his closet, under the bed, and in the small desk tucked into one of the corners.

  “Look at this.” Colin pulled a small manila envelope out of the lap drawer of the desk. He unfastened the brad that held it closed and slid the contents out on the desk.

  The chief joined him. “Huh. Looks like his driver’s license and passport.” He picked up the license and read the name. “Benjamin Kingston.”

  Colin leaned in for a closer look at the license. “The photo looks like the dead body I saw. Is it Ben Kinney?”

  “Eyah, that’s Ben Kinney all right.”

  Colin flipped open the passport. “The name is the same, and so is the guy in the picture.”

  “Let’s go downstairs and see what Miss Ella really knows about this man,” the chief said as he moved toward the door.

  “Hold up,” Colin called out. “It’s probably best we don’t mention it to her just yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “What if she knows more than she’s telling? At this point, we can’t rule anyone out.”

  “You think the mayor could be our murderer?” the chief asked, looking perplexed at the thought.

  “In a murder investigation, everyone is a suspect until you can rule them out. Let’s head back to the police station and do a background check on this Benjamin Kingston and find out who we’re really dealing with.”

  “Oh, I gotcha.” The chief nodded slowly. “Maybe she knew who he really was.”

  “You’re catching on, Chief.” Colin grinned. “I guess it’s possible she doesn’t know his true identity, but let’s have some real ammunition before we question her again.”

  ~*~

  Susan took Emily to meet with the photographer, and then they stopped in at the florist shop on Main Street. As Susan pulled the shop’s door open, a boisterous laugh caught Emily’s attention. She glanced down the street at the throng of people crowding the sidewalks. For an instant she thought she saw Evan again, ducking into a café half a block away.

  “I’ll be right back,” she told her sister. “You go on in and start looking at the flowers.”

  “But, Emily!”

  She hurried toward the café, squeezing through the crowd like a salmon swimming upstream. When she reached the glass door, she paused there for a moment, peering inside. Was she
losing her mind? She had to find out. Emily opened the door and stepped in, frantically gazing around the place.

  “Can I help you?” the young man at the counter asked.

  The little café was full of customers, with a few crowded just inside the door, waiting for a table.

  “I’m looking for someone, a man,” she replied, not looking at the young man, continuing to glance around the busy restaurant. Evan wasn’t there.

  Of course he wasn’t there. He’s dead. Emily shook her head.

  “Do you see him?” the man asked over the clanking silverware and noisy conversations.

  “No, sorry to bother you. He’s not here.” She felt foolish. Why was she dashing about hunting for ghosts?

  “Do you want to wait for him?”

  She shook her head. “It would be an awfully long wait.” With that, she turned and left.

  What was she going to tell Susan? She didn’t want her sister to think she was going crazy too—thinking she kept seeing Evan, how he had been haunting her thoughts. She’d already told the girls, and they hadn’t believed her, dismissing it as subconscious guilt rearing its ugly head. Even if they were right, she didn’t want her sister putting in her two-cents about it.

  Emily reached the flower shop and went in. A string of little brass bells tied on a red ribbon jangled as she came in. Susan was at the back of the shop, standing beside a middle-aged woman in a green smock with a head of frizzy blond hair. They were looking at flowers in five-gallon buckets congregated on the floor. They both turned at the sound of the bells.

  “Emily, there you are. Where did you run off to?” Susan asked.

  “Sorry, I thought I saw someone I used to know, but I was wrong.” Emily slipped her jacket off and folded it over her arm.

  Susan accepted Emily’s excuse and made the introductions, then the three women set about choosing flowers for the wedding.

  ~*~

  As soon as they were finished with the florist, Susan told Emily they were done for the day and she was off to see Brian at the hospital before heading home to meet her children as they got off the school bus.

  “I can’t wait to see the kids,” Emily said.

  “They’ll be here for the wedding. This afternoon will be homework and football practice before supper, and heading to bed early for school tomorrow.”

  “Give them a hug for me and tell them I’m anxious to see them.”

  Susan happily agreed. “Tomorrow we’ll need to finalize last-minute details.” They’d need to nail down a minister to officiate the ceremony on Saturday, and the rest of the guests should be arriving in time for the rehearsal dinner.

  “I don’t think we really need a rehearsal dinner, Susan.”

  “It’s tradition. There’s a lovely room upstairs in the inn, with stunning views of the bay.”

  “Can’t we all just go to dinner at a restaurant? Nothing fancy.” That’s the way Emily liked it. “Besides, what’s there to rehearse? The music starts and then I walk down the aisle to Colin.”

  Her sister’s mouth turned down. “You’re taking the fun out of it.”

  “I just don’t want a big fuss.”

  Susan shaded her eyes against the sun as she glanced up at the sky, which for the most part was clear and blue with a few wispy clouds and a handful of noisy seagulls flying over. Then her gaze moved to the edge of the bay, and Emily’s followed. There, gray clouds were gathering on the horizon. “I hope the weather holds until after the wedding.”

  Emily studied the distant clouds. “Are you expecting bad weather?”

  “No, not this early. I checked weather-dot-com this morning and a storm is moving up the eastern coast, but they expect it to turn and go out to sea long before it reaches Maine.”

  “That’s good.” Emily gave her sister a grateful smile. The good weather had better hold—storm or no storm, there was going to be a wedding this Saturday in Rock Harbor.

  “Now, don’t forget to apply for the marriage license this afternoon. They’ll turn it around in a day.”

  “I won’t forget.” Emily pulled her cell out of her coat pocket. “As a matter of fact, I’ll phone Colin as soon as you’re off.”

  Emily hugged Susan good-bye and watched as her sister walked down Main Street toward the inn. She took a seat on a wrought-iron bench facing the street and dialed Colin’s number.

  “All done with your sister?” he asked.

  “For today. Are you free to go with me and apply for our marriage license?”

  “Not quite, Babe.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m at the police station with the chief, doing a background check on our vic.”

  “Oh, I thought you already did that.”

  “I did, but a lot has changed. How fast can you get over here?”

  “Within minutes. You’re just down the block and around the corner.”

  Isabel plopped down on the bench beside Emily. “Hey, Em. What are you doing?”

  “Isabel!” Emily put an arm around her friend and gave her a quick hug. “Where’s Alex?”

  “Taking a nap. That hike this morning wore him out.”

  “Isabel’s there with you?” Colin asked.

  Emily covered the phone with her hand. “I’m talking to Colin,” she whispered.

  “Emily?” Colin questioned, drawing her attention back.

  “I’m here,” she said. “Isabel just popped by.”

  “Why don’t you bring her with you? We might need her help.”

  “That sounds serious. What’s going on?” Emily glanced sideways at her friend.

  “I’ll tell you when you get here.”

  Chapter 10

  Not long after Emily’s phone conversation with Colin, she and Isabel reached the police station and were escorted into the chief’s office, where he and Colin were huddled around the computer monitor on the desk.

  “Somebody call for the dynamic duo?” Emily chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood.

  “The FBI, at your service,” Isabel played along.

  “Hey, there’s my bride.” Colin smiled at the women.

  Emily wanted to rush over to him and kiss him full on the mouth. Her mind had been busy with all things wedding for the last few hours, not on the murder case. She reined herself in, though, moved close to him, and settled for giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

  “Do you know the chief, Isabel?” Colin asked.

  “No, we haven’t met yet,” she replied.

  “Chief Taylor, this is FBI Agent Isabel Martínez,” Colin introduced.

  The chief stood as Isabel leaned over the desk and they shook hands. “How can I help?” she asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

  Colin relayed what had happened so far, including the visit they had paid to Mayor Ella McCormack.

  “The mayor?” Emily asked. “I met her at the hospital yesterday.”

  “The hospital?” Colin questioned with a tilt of his head.

  “She was visiting Brian, Susan’s husband. Nice lady.”

  “Huh. Okay, now let’s get back to what we found.” Colin spread the items out on the desk. “These are the driver’s license and passport we discovered in the victim’s room. It appears our Ben Kinney was, in fact, Benjamin Kingston, as we suspected.”

  “Maybe the good mayor can shed some light on who this guy is,” Emily said. “What have you turned up in your background search?”

  Colin perched on the corner of the desk. “It appears Mr. Kingston was from New York City. Besides a few parking tickets, there’s not much on his record, until about nine months ago. It looks like he was arrested as part of a RICO sting. He was working as an accountant for an investment firm that the Feds had their eye on for laundering money and other illegal activities.”

  “Was he indicted?” Isabel sat up straighter and leaned forward. This was the type of thing she routinely investigated back home.

  “There’s nothing on him after the arrest,” Colin replied. “You think ma
ybe he made a deal with the Feds to turn State’s evidence?”

  “Could be,” Isabel said. “Maybe they promised him something in return for his testimony. Has the case gone to trial?”

  “I thought about that, but Alvin and I couldn’t find anywhere that it had.”

  “Alvin?” Emily asked.

  “Chief Taylor,” Colin muttered. “Sorry, slip of the tongue.”

  The young chief rocked back in his squeaky wooden chair. “No worries there, Detective.”

  “So, Isabel,” Colin continued, “could you check with the FBI and see what they know about our murder victim?”

  “Sure, I’ll make a few calls, but if he was here posing as a minister, he wouldn’t have been in witness protection. That’s not the kind of job they would have set up for him. I wonder how he would have gotten a gig like that.”

  Colin huffed. “Apparently he was old friends with the mayor. According to the senior pastor at the church, Mrs. McCormack put considerable pressure on him to hire Ben, an accusation she denies, of course.”

  “Let’s see…who should we believe? A minister or a politician?” Isabel breathed a laugh.

  “Maybe you should run a check on her too,” Emily suggested. “Isn’t it possible she knows what he was hiding from?”

  “Sure,” Isabel replied, “she might have some skeletons in her closet too.”

  “Our thought exactly,” Colin said. “We were just about to do that when you girls walked in. After that we’ll head back over to question her again.”

  “And I’ll go pay another visit to Whitley over at the church,” Emily said. “I think your instincts were right about her, Colin. That girl definitely knows something she’s not saying.”

  “Protecting someone?” Colin asked.

  Emily thought for a moment. “More like afraid of someone.”

  “Sounds like we all have our assignments.” Isabel stood, preparing to leave. “Anyone else hungry, besides me?”

  “I am.” Emily raised her hand. “I can’t concentrate when I’m hungry. Why don’t we take a short break and grab a quick lunch?”

  The men enthusiastically agreed.