“Just curious, huh? Well, this is common knowledge by now. The Marytown PD has had a press conference about it.”
“Really?” I said, perplexed.
“No, not really.” Jeff sighed. “In that half hour it looks like she was waiting for someone. We found two cigarette butts with her lipstick on them. She must have helped herself to something to eat—”
“Or whomever she was meeting offered her something.”
“Right,” Jeff said. “It looks like she had some sort of allergic reaction and died.”
“Then someone dropped the bell on her head. Why would someone do that?”
“I can think of a few reasons,” Jeff said. “But nothing stands out, yet. That’s what I’m trying to work through.”
“Pat said it was the bell for the clock tower. Is that right?”
“I’d like you to confirm that,” he said. “Chances aren’t good someone brought another bell in, but I need to confirm it. I have a photo here. You up to looking at it?”
“I guess,” I said. Jeff pulled out his phone and scrolled through the photos, settling on one and then pinching his fingers to home in on it. He handed me the phone. Though I was prepared, I wasn’t prepared enough. He’d done a good job at limiting my view, but I could still see Kim’s hair splayed out on the portico, the bell covering her face.
I took a deep breath and pulled in my view of the photo carefully. When I pushed it back out, I went too far and saw the entire photo. A little blood, but not much, around the body. The bell had done damage—it must have; it covered her entire face. I swallowed back the bile that rose and handed Jeff his phone again.
“It’s the bell we decided to use for the clock tower. See here, how it looks flat? The bell isn’t perfectly round. There are also jagged edges on the inside of the bell, more so than usual. That’s our bell.”
Jeff looked carefully at the photo. “Did that affect the sound?”
“A little. We needed to be careful about the placement of the clapper.”
“Why are you using it, then?”
“It was donated to us. It isn’t ideal, but we needed to make it work. The budget is tight on this project.”
“The bell would be a lot to lift for most people,” Jeff said.
“See the loop on the top? That is for chains or cables. You can use it to pick up the weight, but you’re right, it would be a lot to deadlift for most people. But we had it set up on a frame, so that we could demonstrate how it would sound when it rang. Zane was hoping someone would ante up and buy a new one.”
“So someone could have pushed the entire frame over, taken the bell off, and then put the frame back up.”
“Yes, they could have. The frame was on wheels, so it was movable. Were there any fingerprints?”
“None that we could find.”
“Did you just share a clue?” I said.
Jeff shook his head. “I’m tired. Off my game.”
“Was she dead before the weight hit her?” I said.
“Most likely, yes.”
“But you think she died from an allergic reaction?”
“Nothing is certain, but we found an empty EpiPen beside her, so the assumption is she’d been having an attack. That’s enough for a lot of folks who’d rather see this case closed.”
“Really? But there was a bell on her head,” I said.
“Folks want to move on before the press finds out what happened. Especially since the season is about to begin.”
“Folks? Season?”
“The Board of Selectmen. The Business Alliance of the Berkshires. Tourist season. Having Orchard known as the murder capital of the Berkshires makes a lot of people unhappy.”
“Including you.”
“Of course, but for slightly different reasons, I suspect. I don’t like folks dying in my town. We’re maintaining chains of evidence, forensics is doing their work, and we’ve got techs coming in today to look things over.”
“I’ve heard she was allergic to nuts? Anything else?”
“You are well informed. Why am I not surprised?” Jeff sighed. I made a motion of zipping my lips, then crossed my heart. He nodded and went on. “She was also allergic to bee stings, according to her medical ID bracelet.”
“There are bees out in the land behind the tower. The Clarks are keeping hives,” I said.
“They’re trying to verify if she’s been stung. That could explain—” Jeff said, then he shook his head. “What am I doing? You didn’t hear all of that.”
“I won’t tell a soul,” I said.
“All of this is conjecture until the ME confirms cause of death. She did a preliminary exam already and is doing a full autopsy today.”
“On a Sunday?”
“Kim was a town manager, and that gets some priority. Besides, after the work we did last December, a few folks owed me a favor.”
“We did?” I puffed up a little bit. Though I took no joy from the experience, I was proud of my role in bringing some justice to Mark Pine and thwarting an insidious plan.
“We did. But let’s be careful of the ‘we’ here, all right? Don’t go investigating on your own. It might be dangerous.”
“I’ll leave the investigating to you,” I said. “My main reason for wanting to know what is going on is that the sooner you figure it out, the sooner we can get back to the tower work. I know that sounds terrible, but the twenty-first is coming up quickly. Can we get back to it soon?”
“Depends on what we find. But I’d imagine we’ll be able to release the building in a couple of days. Probably keep the back roped off, though.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “We were going to use it to assemble the clock tower, but we can do it in the tower itself. Though that is a bit risky.”
“What do you mean? Risky?”
“During the Second World War, they took out the clock parts and melted them down. Part of the war effort. It took a few years for them to raise enough money to rebuild it. My grandfather was a kid, but was helping out. One day a spark from a welder’s torch hit one of the beams, and it festered. Later that night, fire erupted, and the tower was gutted.”
“But the building was all right?”
“My grandfather’s family lived across the street and saw the smoke and called the fire department. G.T. said his father ran out and grabbed a garden hose, trying to save what he could.”
“Seems like he did a good job,” Jeff said, looking around at the solid structure surrounding us.
“Well, it helped that the building was solid stone. Apparently the interior was wrecked, so the walls were taken down. That’s why you can see the stone in here. The beams in the clock tower were a total loss. You remember how terrible the wooden clockface looked when we went up to clean.”
“It still smelled like soot,” Jeff said, seemingly happy to be distracted from the case for a moment.
“It did, didn’t it? Structural fixes were made, but the clock tower was too expensive to replace.”
“Maybe that’s what the plaque was for? Thanking Harry for saving the building?”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “From the stories my grandmother told me, Harry took the loss of the tower badly. My grandmother said he used to say that a part of him went up in smoke that night. He took the loss personally.”
“Sounds like he passed that on.”
“He did,” I said, smiling a little sadly. “Not going to deny it. Do you need anything else from me?” I asked.
“No, you’ve been helpful—”
“By the way, have you seen Nancy?” I asked as he shuffled his notes and papers into a rough pile.
“Nancy Reed? No, why?”
“Flo says she’s missing.”
“Missing? Does Ro know—”
“I’m sure they’ve found her by now. People don’t just go m
issing . . .” I didn’t finish the sentence. We both remembered a couple of times lately when they had done just that. “Tell you what—I’ll text you when I hear from her.”
“Thank you, Ruth. For everything.”
“You’re welcome. Call me if you have any other questions. By the way, a few of us are planning on having Sunday dinner this afternoon at the Cog. You’re welcome to join us,” I said, standing from the table and heading toward the door.
“I doubt I’ll be done, but thank you.”
“Then I’ll bring you a plate. You and Ro. Have either of you been home today?”
“We both got to go home, take a nap, and shower.”
“Take care of yourself, Jeff. For the record, I trust your gut. Do right by Kim. She wasn’t my favorite person, but she deserves your best.”
And mine too, I realized.
chapter 14
Jeff locked the front door of the Town Hall behind me. I took a deep breath of fresh air, happy to be back in the sunshine. I checked my watch—two thirty. Twenty-four hours. I knew that Jeff would figure it all out soon, but I hoped it was soon enough. If Kim was murdered, the last thing we needed was another media circus. Especially since she died during the Signing Ceremony. I know it was irrational, but I wanted the clock tower to be a good talisman—a symbol of hope and pride for the town—not a bad one. Needless to say, Zane was getting his wish. We were getting a new bell.
I looked down the street, toward the Sleeping Latte. They were open until three on Sundays. Another half hour to go. I could stop by and get some food, since I was fairly hungry. Maybe Ben would like something to eat . . . Shoot. My phone was back at the Cog. Funny how naked I felt without it.
I walked down to the crosswalk and looked both ways.
“Ruthie darlin’! How are you?” Jimmy Murphy came up on my left. His white shirt was open at the collar with his blue tie loosened. His blondish red hair was flecked with more gray than I remembered, and the lines around his eyes looked more pronounced. My grandfather always said Jimmy Murphy could charm the paint off a barn. I never understood that until I’d gotten to know him better these past few months. Charming he was, indeed. Normally. Today the smile was a bit forced. Also, he’d been a bit mysterious these days. Where had he been? Been There, Read That? Maybe he’d been over by the graveyard? Wherever it was, I hadn’t seen him coming.
“Whoa, Jimmy, you scared me,” I said, putting my hand over my heart dramatically. “Where did you come from?”
“Been over to see Beckett,” he said. “We had some ill waters that needed to be cleared up.”
“Really? I thought you both were great friends.”
“Great friends? I’m not going to pretend we’ve ever been that,” he said. “Beckett is a little short in the friend department.”
“Especially now that Kim’s gone,” I said.
“They were good friends, weren’t they? Birds of a feather, I suppose. It’s all water under the bridge now. I went over to make amends, talk things through. We both care a lot about Orchard.”
“We all care about Orchard,” I said.
“True enough. It’s time to get on the same page. Things have changed. With change comes opportunity.”
“Change being Kim’s death?”
He had the good grace to look slightly abashed. “Ruth, I’m sorry for the way she passed. What a terrible thing, an allergy attack.”
“She died of an allergy attack?” I looked Jimmy straight in the eyes and tried not to blink.
“Now, Ruth, don’t even try that innocent act with me. You’ve been locked in there with Jeff Paisley for an hour. You can’t tell me you didn’t find out a few things.”
“Jimmy, I’m a clockmaker, not a detective.”
“Don’t make me laugh. You’re a fixer. You can’t help it. Your grandpa was the same way, God rest his soul. Anyway, the Board of Selectmen have been kept in the loop about the investigation, or what they know so far. We’re due for another update at six. I was inviting Beckett to the meeting.”
“Beckett?”
“He’s offered to step in for Kim while we look for her replacement.”
“He has? Already? She’s only been dead for a day.” Wow, that was fast, even for Beckett.
“Well, truth to tell, he’d made the offer a few weeks ago, when it looked likely she wouldn’t be keeping her job for much longer.”
“I was surprised she didn’t get the boot after the vote this past week. Do you know what happened?” Jimmy didn’t even try to look me in the eye. What game was he playing?
“I can’t say. If we’d taken the vote this weekend, it might have come out differently.”
“Things have been changing that quickly?” I said. “I really need to pay more attention. I’ve been spending too much time with my head in clock parts.”
“Where it belongs. You don’t want to worry your pretty head about ugly town politics, now, do you?” Jimmy asked.
“It is ugly, isn’t it? Have things always been this bad? I wasn’t really paying attention to town politics when I was a kid, but I don’t remember this much strife. Maybe my grandparents hid it from me.”
“There’s always been a lot of drama here in Orchard. The town hit some hard times, had to make some concessions. Memories are long, fuses are short.”
“Do you think it’s turning around?” I looked over at Jimmy, one of the happiest people I knew, usually. Today? Not so much. He usually didn’t have a short fuse. But what if he was pushed?
“What, the town, or the bad faith?” he asked.
“Both, I guess.”
“Ruth, my darlin’, I believe we are on the ascent. I really do. The last year or so have had the darkest days yet, but daylight is breaking through. Finally.” Jimmy stopped, and smiled. “Speaking of daylight, have you seen that ray of sunshine, Nancy Reed, today? I’ve been looking for her, but she isn’t returning my calls.” Jimmy put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.
“I haven’t seen her, but I know Flo is looking for her too,” I said.
“Good enough. Between the two of us, she’ll be found. We have some coordinating to do, do Nancy and I.”
“Coordinating? That sounds sinister.”
“Nothing of the sort,” he said, laughing. “We’ve got to set some things right now that the path is clear.”
“I’ll let her know when I see her. In the meantime, a piece of advice?” I said.
“What is it?”
“Don’t look so happy. It’s a little unseemly,” I said, doing my best to furrow my brow.
“Right. You’re right.” He forced his smile into a neutral line, though he couldn’t get rid of the twinkle in his eye. “I’ll work on that. I promise. You take care now,” he said, giving me a wink.
As he walked away, he did look more serious. But at the same time, I thought I heard him humming, “Ding-dong! The witch is dead.”
• • •
Jimmy had unsettled me. I knew, from experience, that cookies would help, so a trip to the Sleeping Latte was in order. I walked down toward the Corner Market and then checked both ways before jaywalking in the direction of the Latte.
“Hey, Ruth,” a voice said.
I looked over at Flo’s Emporium. Jason was standing on the front stoop. He had a disapproving look at first, but broke into a grin.
“You scared me!” I exclaimed. I really was jumpy. Yesterday must have affected me more than I realized. “I didn’t see you there. I didn’t think you were coming into town this afternoon.”
“Sorry, sorry. You did look a million miles away. I thought it would be easier for folks if I came in today,” he said. “Have they opened the Town Hall up again?”
“No, not yet,” I said. “I was heading over to the Sleeping Latte to get some cookies,” I said.
“They are running l
ow on baked goods. At least they were when I went over for lunch. Which surprised me, since it’s been quiet as a graveyard around here today.” I must have winced, though I tried not to. “Sorry, that was tasteless.”
We’d both run out of things to say. With some people, silence was a sign of comfort. With other people, like Jason, it was uncomfortable. Mildly put.
“I hear you’ve been changing the shop around,” I said, filling the space. “Got a lot done?”
Jason shrugged. “Trying to. Flo isn’t totally on board, but she was here helping today. We’re trying to get more inventory in, boost sales.”
“Ben was telling me about that. What kind of inventory?”
“Right now, seasonal stuff. Bug spray. Sunscreen. Over-the-counter meds, mostly allergy.”
“Doesn’t the Corner Market carry that sort of thing?”
“They don’t have a huge variety. We’re trying to fill a need. Make it so that folks don’t have to leave Orchard if they don’t want to.”
“That’s handy,” I said. “I used to live in the city, and I was used to traveling around for dinner, groceries, you name it. Now I barely leave these two blocks. I’m okay with that.”
“Well, they’re nice blocks, that’s for sure. Getting nicer all the time.”
What did he mean by that? Now that Kim was gone? Or was I reading into this? I always felt like I was having two different conversations with Jason.
“—hope he has a chance to think about it.”
“Sorry, I tuned out for a minute. What were you saying?”
“Ben and I met this morning to talk about a proposal I had. I’d like to get a license to open a pharmacy here.”
“How involved is that?”
“It takes paperwork. I’m a licensed pharmacist, so that helps. We’d need more space, but we could make the barbershop into a storage facility—”
“Close the barbershop? What about Flo?”
“She could open a shop in her home. She’s supposed to be retired anyway. This would let her off the hook so she could phase out.”
“Ben wants to close the barbershop?” I thought about our earlier conversation and his lack of passion for his work. Did Ben want to change that much?
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