by B. T. Lord
“Jesus Christ!” the man shrieked as he jerked away, his movement so sudden, he fell to the floor. Cammie walked over to him, deftly catching a dish towel Zee tossed to her. She handed it to a visibly upset Aubrey.
“What the hell did you do that for?” he demanded, slurring his words as he wiped his head with the towel.
“It was the only way to wake you up.” He muttered a string of curse words under his breath as he struggled to his feet. Cammie put her hand under his arm and helped him up. “When you’re done insulting me and my ancestors, we’ll walk out to my Explorer where I’ll drive you home.”
He blindly pushed her away. “I don’t need you taking me anywhere.”
“You’re in no condition to drive. If you put even one pinkie behind the wheel of your car, I’m arresting you for DUI.”
He glared bleary-eyed at her. “Says who?”
“Says the Sheriff. Now come on. Veronica is worried sick.”
His demeanor changed at the sound of his wife’s name. “I never meant to worry her.”
“You can explain it to her. Now come on.” She put her hand under his arm and forcefully guided him out of the restaurant. After depositing him in the back seat of the Explorer, she climbed into the driver’s seat and took off.
She’d deliberately volunteered to drive Aubrey home, hoping to use his inebriation to get the answers she was looking for. Before he could pass out again, she asked, “Why did you drink so much tonight? Veronica says you’re not much of a drinker. Does it have to do with Meredith?”
She glanced in the rear view mirror. His eyes were closed and his head was slumped on the back of the seat. Damn it, he was out again. She decided to try anyway. “Come on, Aubrey,” she urged in a louder voice. “You can talk to me. Are you afraid Meredith is going to tell Veronica you two were sleeping together?”
“Can’t leave well enough alone,” he muttered. “Bitch just can’t leave well enough alone.”
“Who’s the bitch? Meredith? Veronica? Poppie?”
“Wouldn’t trust me. I promised, dammit. Just wouldn’t trust me. Never did. Never will.”
“Who doesn’t trust you, Aubrey?” Cammie persisted.
“No one.” He fell silent for a moment and she thought he’d passed out again. Suddenly, he yelled so loudly that Cammie jumped, almost driving the Explorer off the road. With his arms flailing about, he railed, “I’m somebody, you know that? I worked hard to be somebody! That award is mine. No one is going to take it away from me. Screw them all! They deserve to die. They all deserve what they get.” He then fell against the back seat. It wasn’t long before the Explorer was filled with his loud snoring. But it was enough for Cammie.
Did Aubrey just confess, in a convoluted way, to killing Poppie? It certainly wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. And it wasn’t enough to arrest him. Yet. But this could very well be the break in the case she’d been looking for. Although alcohol made people say stupid things, it also, in Cammie’s experience, took away the walls that people built up around themselves. They were able to say things that they’d never say when sober – when the filters were firmly in place.
The Newbery Award seemed to be right in the middle of all this. And Aubrey’s insistence that he deserved it, as well as all the accolades he’d accumulated over the years. Had Poppie not thought he deserved it? Was that why she’d been killed? Was that why Aubrey had insisted on seeing Meredith at the Inn that day? Did she know something that he needed to keep hidden? Would she have become his next victim?
“Thank God Meredith had that panic attack,” Cammie whispered to herself as she pulled up the driveway to Aubrey’s farmhouse. “It may have saved her life.”
The more she thought about Aubrey, the more her loathing for the man grew. By the time she arrived at the farmhouse, it was all she could do not to strangle him.
Veronica was keeping watch out the front window. She’d no sooner parked in the driveway before the woman was out the door and hurrying towards the Explorer. Cammie got out of the vehicle and blocked her.
“He’s passed out on the back seat. However, I’d like to ask you two questions before we bring him into the house.”
Veronica stared at her in shock. “You mean right now? It can’t wait until tomorrow?”
“They’re quick questions.” Before Veronica could refuse and before her conscience could reel her in, she asked, “Did you know Aubrey invited Poppie and Meredith to dinner here the night you were at the Autumn Harvest Festival in Mategwas? Did you also know Aubrey was going to Meredith’s house for six years, on the Tuesdays and Thursdays you were out?”
By the look on Veronica’s face, it was obvious she didn’t. She stared at Cammie in disbelief. Her mouth moved several times, but no words came out. Finally, she managed to say, “I really need to get him inside.” She opened the back door to the Explorer and found him sprawled across the seat.
“You’re going to need help,” Cammie said. “He’s like a dead weight.”
“I’ll manage.”
But it was soon apparent that she couldn’t. Seething with resentment, but realizing she had no choice, she allowed Cammie to assist. Between the two women, they managed to get Aubrey out of the car and into the house.
“There’s a guest room down here. We can put him there.”
Grateful she didn’t have to lug the half conscious man up the flight of stairs, Cammie and Veronica struggled down the hallway to an open door.
It was a small bedroom painted in colonial blue. The full size bed with the matching blue quilt lay centered against the far wall. Cammie and Veronica got him to the edge of the bed where, with careful maneuvering, they were able to lay him down.
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Veronica replied stiffly as she began to slip off Aubrey’s shoes.
Cammie took her leave. It was obvious she’d offended Veronica with her questions, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted Aubrey’s wife to know the truth about the man she’d married. Especially in light of what he’d said in the Explorer.
Cammie reached the front door and was about to leave when she glanced over her shoulder and saw another door across the living room standing open. Looking behind her to make sure Veronica was still in the guest bedroom, she hurried over to the door and peeked inside.
Although the lights were off and the only illumination came from the lamps in the living room, Cammie realized this was Aubrey’s study. Taking out her flashlight from her police belt, she quickly shone it around, knowing it was only a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds, before Veronica appeared.
There was a desk with a laptop computer on it. Unfortunately it was turned off and she didn’t have time to turn it on. Shining the flashlight about, she saw a bulletin board with what appeared to be bullet points on it. Stepping closer, she skimmed through the writing and realized these were plot points for the newest Magic Calico book. Each plot point was checked off, which Cammie guessed he’d incorporated into his story. What caught her attention was the last bullet point on the list. There were a series of question marks, as if he didn’t know what came next. Veronica had said something about his routine of taking walks to flesh out ideas. Could this be why there were question marks? Because he’d gone drinking instead of thinking up what came next in the Calico story?
Fearing she’d be caught, but reluctant to leave such a treasure trove of possibilities to explain Aubrey’s behavior, she began to quietly rummage through his desk. She was so caught up in her investigation that she almost failed to hear Veronica’s step on the hard wood floor. She swiftly turned off the flashlight and cursed herself for being so nosy. She looked around for a hiding place and her heart froze. Veronica was heading right towards the study and there was nowhere to hide.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Cammie frantically looked around, but the room was too dark to see if there were any nooks she could squeeze herself into. No excuses to why she was in there came to mind and she cursed herself again for jeopardizing the investigatio
n. Damn it, she knew better than this!
The footsteps grew closer. At the last minute, she rolled Aubrey’s chair away from the desk, scooted behind it and moved the chair back.
She held her breath.
Veronica drew closer.
Would she see the sheriff hiding under the desk once she turned on the light?
Damn, damn, damn!
Veronica came up to the door. Instead of entering the study, however, she went into the room next door. Cammie heard the sound of a cabinet opening and things being moved around. Guessing Veronica was in the bathroom, she soon understood why. The faint yet unmistakable sound of retching from the other side of the house reached her. Aubrey was physically exorcising his forage into the world of hard liquor.
Veronica appeared to have found what she was looking for because she turned off the bathroom light and retreated down the corridor towards the guest bedroom.
Knowing how close she’d come to being caught and sending the investigation up in smoke, Cammie waited until she was sure Veronica was with Aubrey. Then, praying her luck would continue to hold, she dashed across the living room and out the front door.
She climbed into the Explorer and turned on the ignition. If Veronica noticed she was still there, she’d pretend she’d had a phone call. However, despite the sound of the engine turning over, there was no sign of Veronica.
He must be vomiting up a lung, she thought as she turned the Explorer around in the driveway and drove away.
On the way home, her mind was occupied with the several puzzle pieces that had presented themselves. She had a lot to think about, and it kept her busy all the way home.
She put it aside until she and Jace went to bed. Once he was asleep, she resumed her thinking as she stared up at the ceiling. Suddenly a piece flew into place that made so much sense she was surprised she hadn’t seen it before. Only Meredith could confirm if she was on the right track.
If she’d talk.
Her hopes of using Rick to charm Meredith were dashed when he was called out that morning on a fender bender. Cammie had no choice but to fall back on Plan B.
“I have a full day of patients,” Doc complained when she showed up at his house and asked him to accompany her to see Meredith.
“What time is your first patient?”
“At 9 o’clock.”
“That gives you an hour and a half to come with me.”
Thankfully by the time she’d arrived, he was up and had already had his first cup of coffee. Without that cup, she knew he wouldn’t be speaking to her. Without that cup, he wouldn’t even have answered the door once he saw who was on the other side.
“Ask Rick. Isn’t that what you pay him for? To put up with your unreasonable demands?”
She breathed through her nose, trying her best to tamp down her impatience. “He’s out on a call. Besides Doc, I need you there. She trusts you.”
“Of course she does,” he retorted. “I’m not the one who gave her the seizure.”
“Look, I’ve apologized a gazillion times for that. I overdid it. I promise you, it won’t happen again. But she won’t believe that promise unless you’re there.” Before he could respond, she told him just what she wanted to question Meredith about.
“That’s about as plausible as me getting married. Again. For the fifth time. To a woman.”
Cammie dug her nails into the palms of her hands. She then went into a longer explanation of how she’d reached that conclusion, all the time eyeing the clock and growing desperate at how fast the hands were moving. “You know I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t honestly believe I needed you there. There’s a murder investigation at stake here.”
She saw Doc mulling it over and held her breath. She almost screamed out a cheer when he relented.
“Alright, I’ll go, if only to make sure you don’t overstep your bounds again. But if I’m late for Mrs. Hennessey, you’ll never get one of my home cooked meals again.”
“Mrs. Hennessey, as in ‘the world owes me because my husband left me and I will never stop complaining about it because you all need to be as unhappy as I am’. That Mrs. Hennessey?” she asked as she tried to unobtrusively guide him towards his front door.
“Yes, that Mrs. Hennessey. If I’m even so much as a nanosecond late, I have to spend the entire appointment listening to her carp about everything. Including my excellent medical skills.”
“Then why do you continue to see her?” Cammie asked as she grabbed his doctor’s bag and jacket and held them out to him.
“Because I am a doctor with a heart. I understand her distress. Even if I don’t want to hear about it.”
“Is she really that bad?” Cammie questioned as she managed to get him into the foyer.
Doc eyed her. “Have you ever heard that woman when she actually has something to complain about? It’s worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. She would make my life a living hell, which means I’d make your life a living hell.” She’d finally gotten him out on his front porch. She was closing the door behind them when he snapped, “Will you please stop dawdling and hurry up? I haven’t got all day, you know.”
Meredith looked terrified when Cammie entered her room. Her face relaxed somewhat when she saw Doc following.
Although she’d only been in the hospital for half a day, she still looked as though she’d been through hell and back. The skin sagged on her pale, colorless face. She’d lost even more weight and it showed. Her eyes held the look of a terrified animal. Cammie instantly knew there was something else going on here, more than just the memory of an uncomfortable interview with law enforcement. She looked like a woman whose deepest, darkest secret was about to be revealed. Its release, however, would not offer comfort or relief. It would only cause more fear and trauma.
Meredith was seated on the small sofa at the far side of the guest room. Cammie pulled up one of the chairs and sat opposite her while Doc did the same.
“I need to apologize to you for the way I treated you the last time we spoke,” Cammie began softly. “I’m afraid I had something else come up that day that so upset me, I took it out on you. That was unprofessional and uncalled for and I hope we can get past it. The only excuse I can offer is that we’re all human, including police officers.” Meredith glanced at Doc. “Doc’s here to make sure I behave myself,” Cammie added.
“The sheriff really needs your help,” Doc replied.
She looked from one to the other, hugging the decorative pillow from the sofa close to her chest.
“I’m sure you didn’t mean what you said,” she finally said. Cammie inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
“How are you feeling?”
“The doctors prescribed medication to help calm me. I’m afraid I’ve always suffered from nervous anxiety my entire life. This situation with Poppie has only made my anxiety worse.”
“That’s understandable. Despite what you see on television, many people never have to face a murder in their lifetime. It’s not easy.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“We came by today because a couple of things have come up that I hoped you could clarify for me.”
“I’ll try my best,” she replied. Cammie noticed she tightened her grip on the pillow.
“I thought you’d like to know that Hannah Beresford is very much alive.”
Meredith jerked her head up and stared wide eyed at Cammie. “What?” she exclaimed.
Cammie shared parts of her conversation with Hannah, leaving Meredith in stunned silence. After a few minutes, the emaciated woman found her voice. “I can’t believe Poppie was so – I never saw her like that with anyone whenever we were together.”
“Her daughter completely turning her back on her was enough of a trauma that it broke her in some way,” Doc gently explained. “She retreated from the world as far away as she could, in this case to the town of Mategwas. It was the only way for her to continue functioning.”
Meredith put her hand to her mouth. “My God, how s
ad.”
“Did you ever go inside Poppie’s house?”
“Now that I think about it, I don’t believe I ever did. She either came to my house or was waiting by the front door whenever I arrived to pick her up. Many times the group met up at a designated spot to go bird watching.”
“What can you tell me about Kevin Baker?”
Meredith looked a little surprised that Cammie was asking about him. “He’s a retired accountant who became part of our group shortly after it was formed.”
“Did you ever get the sense that he was attracted to Poppie?”
For the first time since Cammie and Doc arriving, she smiled. “Oh it was obvious that he liked Poppie.”
“How did Poppie react to it?”
“Poppie was a very attractive woman. Kevin wasn’t the only one who would have liked to spend time with her. There were several men in town, including married ones, who found her pleasant. There was something about her that appealed to them – a sense of hurt and sadness buried deep inside that made them want to protect her. Even I believed I had to somehow look after her. We all thought it was because she’d lost her daughter.”
“Do you think Kevin or any of those men tried to take their acquaintance with her to the next level?”
“If they did, I’m convinced she put a stop to it quickly. As I said to you earlier, Sheriff, there were boundaries around Poppie that people knew not to cross.”
“How did you and Kevin get along?”
Meredith shrugged. “Fine. We’d see each other around town, as well as on our bird watching excursions. It was more of a hello, how are you type of friendship.”
“How did he and Poppie get along?” Meredith opened her mouth to answer, then quickly shut it. “Please tell me what you know,” Cammie responded calmly.
“Are you thinking Kevin had something to do with Poppie’s death?” she asked in a hushed voice.
“We’re simply gathering information on everyone who knew Poppie. What you may think is unimportant may be a huge help to us.”