by Gina Dartt
“But...she runs a bookstore.” Rushton sounded shocked.
“She owns the bookstore and the building it’s in, among other things,” Diane said. “Her grandmother is Irene Taylor, and apparently the Taylors believe that one should always be gainfully occupied. Kate continues that tradition, but she could probably buy and sell you ten times over and still have enough spare change to support a hundred girlfriends.”
Nikki discovered she was leaning weakly against the rack, one hand on the side to keep from toppling. She had always understood that Kate was well off financially...she owned her own business, after all, and was older, having been in the workforce much longer...but Nikki had never connected her with being rich. The Taylors owned half of Truro. She was so shaken, she missed the next few words of the conversation and had to catch up.
“...set me up,” Katherine was saying.
“No one had to set you up with Mosaic Estates,” Diane said. “It was Sam’s and your decision to try to cover your losses with money embezzled from the stockholders. Once that gets out, you’ll be charged. Murder is actually the least of your problems.”
“I didn’t kill Sam. I loved him. We were going to be together.”
“Did he tell you that? You’re hardly the first woman he’s indulged himself with.”
“He was going to divorce his wife. I saw the papers Wednesday evening. That’s why I was there. We were celebrating, but he was alive when I left. Someone else came by afterward and killed him.”
“If you say so.” Diane didn’t sound convinced. “In any event, the most pressing problem is the fraud charges that you and Terry will face if any of this comes out. Thankfully Sam’s business insurance can cover some of the losses.”
Terry? Nikki thought excitedly. Terry Bishop was involved with this, too?
“Your firm isn’t clear,” Rushton hissed, a streak of vindictive hatred in her voice. “Terry had this all figured out...right up until old man Gilles stopped him in his tracks. The firm might survive without Terry, but the publicity won’t do any of you much good.”
“That sort of talk won’t do you any good either,” Diane said, active dislike coloring her tone. “Besides, with the evidence burned—”
“It wasn’t at Edwards House.” Rushton undoubtedly surprised the lawyer as much as Nikki. “I moved it last Saturday night, after the police finished questioning me. I didn’t want those two prying dykes to come find it again.”
“Is that why you burned down the house?” Diane asked, an edge of demand in her voice. Holding her breath, Nikki waited, needing to know if Katherine would reveal all.
“I didn’t burn it down.” Rushton’s outrage sounded genuine. “Why would I do that? It was insured for its initial value, not for all our renovations. I’ll be lucky if insurance covers half of what I spent.”
“You’ll be lucky if insurance pays at all. It was arson. In any event, you’d better hope no one finds that other file.”
“It’s in a safe place. Someplace only Sam and I knew about, a little cabin on the lake.” Rushton hesitated. “It was where we’d go to be together.” Her voice became somewhat dreamy in a way that Nikki recognized only too well. Her mood didn’t last long, however, for her voice hardened perceptibly with her next words. “So you people will continue to represent me in whatever happens, and it won’t come out that Terry was also a partner in Mosaic Estates.”
Nikki had heard all she needed. She had to get her hands on that evidence and find out exactly what Rushton and her associates were up to. Leaving the restaurant, she crossed the parking lot and strode briskly toward the sidewalk, heading back into town. She did stop by Keebler’s to feign illness, and since she rarely missed a day, her supervisor didn’t question her. She thought briefly about telling Rick, but without evidence, there would be no point. But with the file in hand, he could probably do something about the situation. Nikki suspected no one knew about Terry Bishop’s involvement, and something of this nature involving one of the biggest lawyers in town would have lasting repercussions.
She very carefully forced aside her first impulse, which was to run to Kate with this new information. She especially tried not to think about what she had learned about her financial status, and how it would affect them. Whenever she came close to thinking about it, a sense of betrayal and hurt started to radiate from her chest, and she had to think about something else quickly to make it ease. She wasn’t ready to deal with it or examine why she was so angry that Kate hadn’t told her she belonged to one of the richer families in town. Perhaps Nikki should have known Kate was descended from the Taylors, but that didn’t mean Kate should have pretended she was merely another working stiff just getting by. Or in Nikki’s case, barely getting by at all.
Entering the Sportsplex, she made her way to the floor containing the classes for aerobics and dance. She found Kim leading a group of puffing women, encouraging them to greater exertions by telling them class was nearly over and then they could have the hot fudge sundaes they all really wanted. Kim knew how to truly motivate people. Nikki waited until the music slowed and the class cooled down and then stood aside as the women, chatting and laughing, left.
Kim, wiping her face with a towel, picked up her bag from the floor. “Hey, bud,” she said as she spotted her. “What’s up?”
“I need to borrow your car.”
With a look of concern, Kim dug the keys out of her bag. “What’s going on?”
Nikki accepted the keys gratefully. “I came across some new information. Sam was supposed to have a cabin that no one knew about other than he and Rushton.”
“Then how do you know about it?”
“A matter of being in the right place at the right time.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I’m guessing it’s on the lake on the Gilles property. I want to go check it out before anything else happens. I need a car to get there, though. It’s too far to walk.”
“Okay,” Kim said, looking at her with concern. “Are you sure you should be doing this? You’re nosing around a murder, after all. You should probably leave it for the police.”
“If I find the cabin, I’ll tell Rick. If not, then I won’t look like a fool for sticking my nose in. Thanks for the keys. I’ll put some gas in it before I bring it back.”
“No problem,” Kim said, and then called after her as she left the room. “Be careful!”
In the parking lot, Nikki tracked down Kim’s little blue Honda, thankful that she knew at least one person who would lend her their car and that it was an automatic. She didn’t have anything to go on but instinct, but she had an unmistakable sense of where the cabin had to be located, particularly if only Sam and Katherine knew about it. Of course, she could be completely wrong, but in a worst-case scenario, she would have a chance to go for a drive on a sunny day and enjoy the scenery. Though she enjoyed certain things about living in town, a large part of her greatly missed living in the country.
Nikki decided to start her search at Edwards House and was pleased that someone had freshly plowed the driveway. But when she saw the blackened remains of the house on the hill, she was reminded that the fire trucks would have needed it. As it was, the curving nature of the driveway and her relative unfamiliarity with driving in winter conditions made the trip a little more nerve-wracking than she would have liked, though certainly not as exciting as that first visit with Kate.
Taking a pair of binoculars Kim kept in her glove compartment, Nikki got out of the car and stood in the courtyard looking over the snow-covered fields and forest, thankful that it was high enough to give her a good vantage point. The Gilles property was located to the west, and she scrutinized the farm, the buildings starting to weather badly now that no one lived there. Yet the driveway to that property, as well as what appeared to be some sort of logging road leading into the trees on the rise behind the farm, had been plowed, the banks humped high on either side.
That had to be the access
to the lake, she thought. Otherwise why plow it, though she wasn’t sure whom Rushton would trust to do it. Then something else caught her attention, and she trained her binoculars on the barn, noticing that the door was half open. Inside stood a tractor with a plow blade, explaining how the road could be cleared without outside help, though Nikki couldn’t quite picture Rushton operating such a piece of equipment.
Deciding she wasn’t solving anything just standing there, Nikki returned to the Honda and drove gingerly back down the lane. She didn’t look back at the house, now nothing more than the charred remains of an unfulfilled dream; she was too intent on discovering what lay beyond her vision.
Chapter Thirty-One
Leaving the store in Sheila’s capable hands for the time being, Kate crossed Inglish Place at the corner and strode briskly up the sidewalk toward Judith’s Jewelry. Inside the small but exclusive shop, the proprietress greeted her immediately. A stocky woman with ginger hair, Judith Bishop had owned this store for as long as Kate could remember. As a fellow member of the Downtown Business Committee, Kate had a great deal of respect for her, though they didn’t have much in common other than the fact that Kate had gone to high school at the same time as Judith’s younger brother, Terry.
Kate suspected they had even less in common after the events of the past week or so.
“Kathryn.” Judith greeted her with cool civility. “What brings you here?”
Few people insisted on using Kate’s full name. She tried not to be annoyed, though she suspected Judith did it only because she knew it aggravated her. Judith was like that.
“I’m stopping by to pick up a gift,” Kate said, seeing no reason to dance around the issue. “Something for Valentine’s Day.”
The blunt declaration made Judith seem unable to respond beyond blinking uncertainly. “I...see,” she said slowly. “What did you have in mind?”
“Earrings,” Kate said, inspecting the selection kept carefully under glass. “Or perhaps a necklace.” She tapped the glass over a section of simple yet elegant chains with pendants. “Let me see the heart-shaped one.”
Judith hesitated and then opened the rear panel to retrieve the necklace. She presented it to Kate, who examined it carefully for flaws, judging how the light fell upon the stones. Easily imagining how it would look around Nikki’s neck, the pendant cradled in the soft hollow of her throat, and not one for vacillating, Kate made up her mind on the spot. “I’ll take it,” she said, handing it back to be boxed. “Gift wrap it, please.”
“Of course,” Judith said, staring at her oddly, as if she couldn’t quite believe this was happening.
As Judith wrapped the necklace, Kate entertained the idea of buying some matching earrings, scrutinizing them carefully, but ultimately held back, suspecting that both would be too much for a first present. Seeming to be in a daze, Judith accepted the credit card Kate handed her, ringing up the purchase that undoubtedly increased her profit margin by a considerable amount for the day.
After she tucked the small box in the pocket of her coat, Kate formally nodded to Judith, who still looked slightly stunned, and left the store. Outside, the sunshine reflected sharply off car windows and snow, making her blink as she continued to the grocery store farther up the street, intent on picking up a few things for dinner. In the produce aisle, she ran into Lillian Salter, the member of the Historical Society in charge of the annual fund-raising dinner. It was one of the more significant social events of the town and, with plates going for well over a hundred dollars, unquestionably elite. Kate had, by virtue of her membership and the support of the Taylor Foundation over the years, a somewhat permanent position seated next to the president.
Kate was amused to see Lillian hesitate when she saw her, her face altering as if she wanted to flee in the other direction. However, she pushed her cart in Kate’s direction, looking both resolute and artificially cheerful. “Kate,” she said. “I’m so glad to run into you. I was wondering about your seat at the head table this year. Will you still be attending?”
“Of course,” Kate said, discovering she was enjoying this encounter far more than she probably should. “I wouldn’t miss it. I’ll drop off my check this week.”
“Ah, that’s wonderful,” Lillian said, her smile as false as her eyelashes. “I’ll put you down for your customary place.”
“Actually, this year I’ll be bringing a guest. Put me down for two.”
Lillian’s expression froze, and a certain desperation abruptly appeared in her watery eyes. But despite her obvious dismay, she was apparently determined not to put a foot wrong. She knew as well as anyone whose signature was on the checks donated to the treasury that kept many of the Historical Society’s projects moving forward. Kate knew Lillian was not prepared to insult one of their biggest contributors, even if she had a deep-seated desire to do so on some perceived moral ground.
“Both at the head table?” Lillian’s voice cracked ever so slightly.
“Where else?” Kate said, staring at her blandly as she stuck in the needle. “Side by side. I want my guest seated next to me.” She smiled, twisting it a bit. “Within arm’s length.”
Lillian gasped. “I...see.”
It occurred to Kate that she was making a lot of people “see” this particular Saturday morning. That it was rather entertaining was probably just a bonus. She stared politely at the woman. “Is there anything else?”
“No,” Lillian said stiffly. “I’ll make sure you and...your guest...are seated together.”
“Thank you,” Kate responded, and continued shopping, placidly picking up some green peppers and a red one. She was aware of Lillian’s eyes following her as she moved on to pick up what else she required, and she had to suppress a tiny chortle.
Kate paid for her purchases at the checkout, surprised when the same young woman who had waited on her countless times, but had rarely looked up from her register, now smiled shyly. Kate didn’t know quite what to make of it, but she couldn’t deny that the attitude of the people around her was definitely altering in some not-so-subtle ways. Obviously, this lesbian thing was more complex than she realized when she made her first unconscious decision to pursue Nikki.
Kate had a lot to think about as she walked home. She entered the back door, taking the bags upstairs to put everything away. The present she laid on the counter to deal with later that night. She and Nikki had agreed to meet at seven, and since the store closed at five, that would give her a couple of hours to prepare for their special evening. Smiling faintly in anticipation, she went downstairs to where Sheila was taking care of the store.
The customers weren’t as numerous as they had been the previous day, but it was still busier than the average Saturday, and both Sheila and Kate stayed occupied. At three, business finally died off, and Kate had an opportunity to ask Sheila how her date the night before had gone.
“It was great,” Sheila said, as they straightened the rack of bestsellers. “Billy’s really nice. We danced to all the songs, even the slow ones.”
“I’m glad,” Kate said, genuinely pleased for the girl. “You should only date nice guys. Save the ‘bad boys’ for those who don’t know any better.”
Sheila blushed and glanced sideways at her. “Mrs. Shannon?”
“Yes, Sheila?” Kate moved over to the general fiction where she knelt to pick up a few novels that had been put back in the wrong spot.
“Some kids were...saying some things last night.”
Kate felt a bit of tension ripple across her shoulders, a sort of foreboding. “Yes?” she said, not turning around, keeping her voice pleasant and even.
“They say you...well, that you like girls.”
Kate inhaled deeply, summoning a calm demeanor, then rose and turned. Sheila was regarding her with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. Kate wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to this reaction, but she didn’t consider diverging from the truth any more than she had with Judith or Lillian earlier in the day. She simply intended
to be a little gentler in her approach until she determined Sheila’s comfort level.
“I like one woman specifically,” she said. “Her name is Nikki Harris.”
Sheila seemed to absorb this piece of information without much change in expression. “So, what they were saying was true. You’re a lesbian.”
Kate opened her mouth to say she wasn’t sure, that so far in her life only one person had ever made her feel as she did and that she wasn’t entirely certain that deserved such a label, but decided it was too complicated.
“I guess so,” she said instead, in a gentle tone.
Sheila nodded. “I guess that’s kind of...cool.”
Kate’s smile tightened when Sheila bent her head, seeming uneasy as she fussed with one of the novels. “What is it?”
“I don’t think my mom and dad agree, though.”
“No?”
Sheila kept her eyes fixed on the shelf in front of her, as if she apparently found it hard to look directly at Kate. “This morning, before I left for work, Dad said that it would be a good idea to give my notice.”
That statement struck with the force of a blow, completely unexpected. Kate barely knew the Fishers, and they hardly knew her. Apparently, that didn’t stop them from suddenly making value judgments on her. “I see,” she said with difficulty. “What do you think about that?”
“I think they’re being backward, as usual. But they’re my parents, you know?”
“I know.” Kate strove for some kind of evenness in her tone. “You should probably go along with their wishes.” She searched for something to say. “Do you think it would help if I spoke with them?”
Sheila shot a look of alarm at Kate. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Dad said some...kind of nasty things this morning. He said that I had to go to work today, because it wasn’t fair to just not show up, but that this should be my last day to work for you.”