A Page Marked for Murder

by Lauren Elliott

  The sun sparkling off the string of enormous icicles above her on the edge of the bandstand roof reminded her of the Christmas decorations that adorned many of the homes in town over the holidays. Her gaze followed their trail along the roofline to where it ended, and the open stage began. Her heart lurched in her chest.

  “I don’t believe it!” she cried, and leapt to her feet, sending her little friend tumbling onto the dry patch of grass where they’d been resting. She bolted to the side of the stage and stared up. “Could it be?”

  “Could it be what?” Simon said breathlessly as he bent forward, hands on his knees, panting. “Sorry, I ran all the way from the parking lot, and the gusty wind got to me.” He puffed. “So, you found blood, where? Here?” He glanced up.

  “Not here, but look.” She pointed. “The last one’s been snapped off at the roofline.”

  “Okay?” He raised his brow questioningly.

  “Look closely at the size and shape of the icicles. You said part of the reason you were having difficulty in identifying the weapon was because the debris particles left in the wound contained a mixture of organic substances. This suggests the weapon or tool was well weathered. Could it have been one of Mother Nature’s tools?”

  Simon shielded his eyes from the glistening rainbow effect the sun was producing on the hanging icicles. “Well, I’ll be,” he said, his jaw dropping. “Who’d have thought? It would make a perfect murder weapon. One that would melt quickly due to the blood temperature combined with the fact that the body was placed over the hot air vent making it as hard as it was to trace.”

  “Hey, Doc, what was so urgent?” Marc called as he jogged toward them.

  “Look,” Simon said, excitedly pointing.

  “Yeah, so it’s icicles. Where’s the emergency?”

  Four more officers joined them, looked to where Simon had indicated, and then glanced at each other, shrugging.

  “I think . . . that Addie has discovered our missing murder weapon. That’s the emergency,” Simon said smugly. “One of these made the perfect murder weapon, as they dissolve and are untraceable.”

  “Well, I’ll be darned.” Marc pushed the brim of his cap back on his head and studied the hanging shards of melted, dripping snow turned to ice daggers. “Who’d have thought of using an innocent-appearing icicle as a murder weapon?”

  “That’s not all I found,” Addie said, glancing from one man to the other. “I think I found a murder scene, too.”

  “What? You found it here?” Marc’s brown eyes darkened with a deep shade of doubt. “My team searched the entire area and found nothing.”

  “Then they didn’t look in the right place, did they?”

  The tips of his ears reddened. “Show me.”

  “Happily!” Addie swung on her heel and marched toward the beach with Pippi merrily scampering alongside her.

  “Jefferies, you stay here, and wait for Jerry and keep an eye on the . . . um . . . evidence. Bag one of them,” Marc bellowed. “The rest of you, come with me, and let’s go take a look at what Miss Greyborne thinks she has found. My guess is it’s blood left behind after some fisherman cleaned his catch, but . . .”

  The rest of his mocking words were lost to Addie as the wind whipped past her ears.

  When they reached the rocks covered in crystallized blood splatter, she stood back as Simon performed the same finger test as she had and nodded confirmation to Marc. Within seconds, the other three officers fanned out over the beach, and Marc was on his police radio.

  “Sergeant Fowley, you done up there yet?”

  “Yes, Chief, just finishing. We took three for good measure,” Jerry’s voice cracked over the small speaker.

  “Good, now come down to the beach and bring the black bag. I got more for you.” He snapped off the radio and turned to Addie. “How is it that you came across this?”

  Addie explained how Pippi actually was the one that found it. By the time she got her words out, Jerry joined them.

  A large blue vein throbbed at Marc’s temple as he turned toward the sergeant. “I want the names of every officer who said they checked this beach for evidence of a murder. Because it appears even an untrained dog could find it.”

  “Yes, Chief.” Jerry nodded.

  Despite the coolness of the wind, Addie couldn’t help but notice tiny beads of perspiration erupt on Jerry’s forehead. She stepped forward. “Maybe it wasn’t here when they searched.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It seems Bill has disappeared, too, and that’s the reason I was here in the first place. I was looking for him.”

  “Chief! You’d better come see this,” one of the officers yelled from the cavern rock formation.

  Addie’s blood ran as cold as the blood crystallized on the stones at her feet.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Addie slammed her car into park, grabbed the beach bag from the seat, and bolted through the back door of her bookshop. “Paige,” she yelled, “you aren’t going to believe this.” She dashed through the store to where Paige was standing at the front door.

  Paige twirled toward her. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick. Not a word from you all afternoon!” She pinned Addie with the look that Addie’s grandmother used when she was perturbed with something Addie had done as a child.

  Addie flinched under Paige’s piercing glare, feeling more like a naughty three-year-old than a thirtysomething. “I’m sorry. The afternoon kind of got away from me. I should have called or sent a text.”

  “Yes, you should have,” Paige said with a jerk of her head. “I didn’t know if you were coming back, so I decided to close. It is almost five.”

  “Yes, that’s fine, but wait until I tell you the good news. At least, I think it is.”

  “Have the charges against Mom been dropped?”

  Addie grinned, no longer able to contain the excitement bubbling up in her chest since she made her discovery at the bandstand. “If they haven’t, I’m pretty sure they will be soon.”

  “Why, what did you find? Did Bill tell you who the other person he saw on the beach was? Did they pick up the guy?”

  Addie waved her hands. “I think I discovered the murder weapon. And if I’m right, there is no way your mom had the means to use it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There was a huge icicle broken off from the roof that runs along the rear part of the bandstand shell up to the stage.”

  “An icicle? Could one of those kill someone?”

  “You should have seen the size of them. And yes, given where Brett’s wound was, I’d say that’s exactly what killed him.”

  “How does this prove my mom didn’t do it?”

  “Because it was broken off at the base at the roofline, and your mom is only, what, five-foot-two or three?” Paige nodded in agreement. “And her arm reach could only be about yea high.” Addie lifted her arm just above her head. “So, you see, there is no way your mom could have reached up to the shingles to snap it off at the base. Maybe she could have plucked off a piece of the bottom bit but not the top.”

  Paige grabbed the edge of the counter. “When will we know for sure if that’s what killed Brett?”

  “Simon’s taken a couple of the icicles back to the lab. I’m thinking it won’t be that long.”

  “Wow!” Paige’s face lit up, and her smile reflected in her big round eyes. “That means the murderer is someone tall, right?”

  “Exactly! Because if a stool or ladder was used to take down an icicle earlier, that means the killer would have known that Brett would be on the beach alone that night, and how could anyone have foreseen that? So it had to be taken as a weapon of opportunity in the spur of the moment.”

  “You’re right and that would also clear my dad, too, because he’s only about five-foot-six.”

  “Come on. Let’s take a look at the board and go over the suspects we have. Keep in mind, right now we’re only considering who would have had the means to kill
him.” Addie flipped the cover off the board and scanned over the names. “Here. Jared or Kalea are two that are tall enough, maybe.”

  “Kalea, but she said they were in Boston Saturday night?”

  “Maybe they weren’t.”

  “But your cousin . . . could she . . . would she have killed someone?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe she thought she was doing her new boyfriend a favor and tried threatening Brett for the money he owed Jared, and in self-defense, she ended up killing him.”

  Paige’s brow rose. “That theory seems a bit out there, don’t you think?”

  “You’re right, but I’m just throwing stuff out to see what sticks.”

  “I think that one rolled right off the board and plopped on the floor like the doo-doo it is.”

  “Paige! You astound me.” Addie choked out a half snort, half laugh. “But, unfortunately, that only leaves Bill as the final name on the list.”

  “He is fairly tall.”

  “I know.” Addie collapsed onto a box. “I just don’t want to believe it.”

  “But you will believe your own flesh and blood is a suspect?”

  “No, but it’s clear, it couldn’t have been your mom. I need to find Bill. He said your mother wasn’t the other person he saw, and this new evidence proves he wasn’t lying. I need to make him tell me who he saw.”

  “And there was no sign of him camping down by the beach?”

  “There was a fresh campfire and some food wrappers in the rock cavern, but nothing else. Someone has been there recently. I’ll tell you it was a relief when that’s all they found. The pools of blood I found on the rocks close to the camp . . . well. I was afraid that it might be much worse.”

  “So”—Paige hopped up onto the desk—“if Brett was killed on the beach, how did his body get to Mom’s bakery, and why there?”

  “That’s what we have to figure out. If the blood I found on the rocks turns out to be Brett’s, it seems unlikely Bill could have done it, because he doesn’t have access to a car. Which leaves us to figure out who hated your mother enough to want to frame her for the murder.”

  “And they did a pretty good job, didn’t they?”

  “My gut tells me stronger than it did before that Bill is the only one who can answer that. Whoever it is has him so scared he’s gone into hiding.”

  “But where else is there to look for him?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A bang on the alley door behind them sent them both to their feet. “Who is it?” Addie called through the door.

  “It’s me, Simon.”

  “Simon?” She pushed it open. “Shouldn’t you be in the lab or something?”

  “I’ m done for now.”

  “If you’re done, does that mean you’ve made a match?”

  Simon’s mouth pulled back in a wide grin. “The murder weapon was indeed an icicle from that roofline, and the blood on the rocks is a positive match for Brett’s.”

  Paige scooted over to Addie’s side. “Does that mean my mom’s no longer a suspect?”

  He raised his brow questioningly.

  “I ask that because Addie said that she’s so short, she couldn’t have broken the icicle off the roof.”

  “That’s a good question. It does mean she would have difficulty with that.” He glanced at Addie. “That’s something I’ll have to present to Marc to pass on to the DA for consideration when I file my official report.”

  “Fingers crossed.” Paige heaved out a sigh. “But look at the time. I have to run. Emma will be having her dinner now and then going to bed soon. I have to be there to read her a bedtime story and tuck her in before I go out. She loves Aunty Mellissa coming over to babysit when I go out, but says I read the stories in the best voices.”

  “Do you have a big date tonight?” Addie asked with a teasing chuckle.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”

  “Is it with the young firefighter your mom told me you were seeing?”

  “Yes, his name is Logan, and I guess I’m not the only sister who is attracted to a man in uniform.” Paige giggled. “Elli and some guy she’s started seeing are meeting us at the Ship ’n Anchor at eight.”

  “Is this new guy Curtis, one of Marc’s officers, by chance?”

  “How did you know?”

  “I have my sources,” Addie said with a laugh. “Go, and thanks for all your help today.”

  “No problem. I’ll lock the door behind me.”

  “Have fun.”

  “I’m sure we will. It’s karaoke night, and Logan’s a great singer. It should be a lot of fun.” She trotted to the front. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she called. The bells merrily jangled out her departure.

  “Okay, back to this.” Addie turned and studied the blackboard. “If the blood on the beach is Brett’s, Bill is still alive. We have to find him tonight. He holds the key to who the other person was on the beach with Brett.”

  “Wait a minute. Aren’t you forgetting one thing?”

  “What?”

  “We have to return Pippi home tonight, remember?”

  “Oh right.”

  Simon placed his hands on Addie’s shoulders. “Are you ready for this?”

  She dropped her gaze and nodded.

  “Good, now gather up Pippi’s toys that you have here. You can drive over to your house to collect the rest of it, and I’ll follow along and drive you to Gloria’s.”

  Addie’s gaze traveled across the floor to where her furry little friend slept in the basket under the desk. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “I know it was difficult, but you did see how happy Gloria and Pippi were in their reunion. You know it’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

  Addie gazed out the side window of Simon’s truck. The lights of town whizzed by in a haloed blur through her tears.

  “Addie? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “What would you think about us dropping into the animal shelter later this week? You know they always have puppies and dogs in need of a forever home.”

  “No,” she said with a sniffle, “I’m fine. Maybe I’m finally learning that I can’t replace a loss with the first substitution that comes along.”

  “Are you making an offhanded reference to me in that? You know, about David’s passing and us and—”

  “Not you!” Addie glanced at him. The headlights of a passing car revealed the pain etched on his face. “I was talking about . . . well . . . Marc, who was a good example of an instance when I jumped in before I was ready and . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  He turned his face and glanced out his driver’s-side window, an unmistakable sigh of relief escaping his chest.

  “When and if the time is right, Pippi’s void will be filled by the perfect successor just like it was . . . when you came into my life.” She reached over and gently squeezed his knee.

  There was no mistaking the grin that reflected back at her in the dim light of the truck cab. They jostled over a snow rut at the top of her driveway, sending them both into jarring laughter. Addie rubbed the top of her head where she’d bumped the cab roof and groaned as they drew closer to her house. “I really don’t need this tonight.”

  “Is that Jared’s car?”

  “Yes, and a showdown with Kalea is the last thing I wanted. Oh well.” She jumped out onto the driveway. “I guess it can’t be avoided, but there go my plans of heating up that leftover lasagna in the freezer and snuggling with you on the sofa with a glass of wine.”

  “It sounds perfect, all the way around. We can only hope they’re just on their way out.” Simon followed her up the porch steps through the front door.

  Addie stepped into the foyer and stopped. The air was filled with the sweet aroma of tomato sauce and heady cheese. “I don’t believe it!”

  She kicked off her boots and stomped to the kitchen. When she reached the doorway, she gripped the frame, her fingertips white with t
he rage coursing through her. There in the center of the island was the now-empty lasagna pan, the Mario’s leftovers she’d frozen for her and Simon to share, the bottle of special-blended scotch Addie had purchased specifically for Simon, and the remnants of the last package of fondue chocolate that had been in the pantry. Another treat she’d been saving for her and Simon’s next impromptu midnight fondue.

  “Hi there,” Kalea’s weak voice came from her left. “I didn’t expect you home so soon.”

  “I can see that.” Addie pivoted and pinned her eyes on Kalea, who was cuddled into Jared’s side in the corner of the U-shaped bench of the three-window-sided breakfast nook.

  “I haven’t had time to clean up. We just got back from Boston and were starving, but—”

  “Boston again?” Addie huffed. “Didn’t you get enough of it on Saturday night, at least that’s where you said you were.”

  “Yes, we were. We drew up the preliminary papers Saturday and then had a wonderful evening of dinner and dancing and a marvelous night of . . .” She giggled and kissed Jared’s cheek. Kalea wiggled off the bench and sauntered toward Addie. “But today, we met with Jared’s lawyers again to sign the actual sale papers for the dress shop. It’s finally done!” She squealed and clapped her hands in excitement.

  Addie’s hand twitched. She wanted to smack that innocent look from her cousin’s face after what Kalea had put her through and finding her kitchen had once again been ransacked. From behind her, Simon’s fingers gently kneaded into Addie’s shoulders—his unspoken message for her to stop and take a deep breath before speaking or doing anything else.

  Addie glanced at her antsy hand and folded her arms across her chest, for her cousin’s safety, she told herself. “I imagine you are into your new partner”—Addie ticked her head in Jared’s direction—“for quite a tidy sum, aren’t you? Has he informed you yet exactly how he treats people who owe him money?”

  “What are you talking about?” Jared sputtered, edged off the bench, and moved to Kalea’s side.