by Ginny Gold
Driving through town, Maggie zones out. She’d rather be curled in bed and immune to the challenges of tracking down the truth about a murder. She hasn’t talked to Detective Daniel Stevens in nearly twenty four hours and knows she should reach out. She hasn’t told him Ginger Rae’s theory about Clara’s death being connected to protected objects, and she wonders how he would react if she mentioned time traveling capabilities. Or whether she should even share that huge secret.
Just before eight, when the older women arrive at The Coffee Bean, Maggie parks right outside the coffee shop. There’s a single parking space and she is happy to fill it up with her Prius. From her driver’s seat, she can see Ginger Rae’s orange hair and Erline’s eye catching hat through the window. Winona could be anyone with her white hair pulled back into a ponytail.
Maggie walks inside and makes herself comfy on the couch.
“No coffee today?” Winona asks.
Maggie holds up her travel mug. “I made some at home so thought I’d finish that first.”
“So Clem and Denis,” Ginger Rae says through the widest smile Maggie has seen on her face in days.
Maggie’s head whips in Ginger Rae’s direction. “News travels fast in Silver Springs.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Ginger Rae agrees. All four women chuckle. “Have they set a date?”
Maggie shakes her head. “Not even close. But they’re both so happy, and this is definitely the right thing for them. I’m really happy for her.”
Maggie realizes as she says the words how true they are. While she and Clem may have drifted apart between high school and their parents’ murder in the spring, they’ve reconnected in a way Maggie thought would be impossible at this stage in their life with too much between them. She’s thrilled that her sister has found the man of her dreams and that they’re taking the next step to solidify their relationship.
“Now it’s just you and Drew,” Erline says, a mischievous grin on her face and a sparkle in her eye.
Maggie blushes. “Not today,” she says, hoping the subject will change.
“You probably didn’t come here to talk about Clem, did you?” Winona asks, giving Ginger Rae a meaningful look. Maggie is reminded why Winona has always been her favorite—she’s quieter and always seems able to read Maggie’s mind.
“No. I didn’t,” Maggie says, thankful that Winona came through for her. She looks around quickly but all of the other customers are immersed in some kind of technological device—smart phones, tablets and laptops fill everyone’s hands or tables. She lowers her voice and continues. “I learned that Josh McMann and Mitch Cable knew each other. Ginger Rae, I think you might be on to something about why Clara was killed. It could be related to my parents’ murder and Erline’s break in. There might be another connection between them and Clara’s murderer.”
CHAPTER 24
All three women stare at Maggie with unblinking eyes. Finally, Ginger Rae breaks the silence. “How are you going to find out who the other connection is? There is no doubt in my mind that would be Clara’s killer.”
“I’ll keep asking questions of everyone who knows anything. I haven’t talked to Stewart yet but I know where he’s staying. I wonder if he might know Josh and Mitch. I can’t think of why he’d be in town right now if it wasn’t related to Clara,” Maggie answers.
Her skin prickles at the thought of Stewart. She remembers the scratches on his cheek when she saw him in the grocery store yesterday. He could have gotten them when he was escaping from Ginger Rae’s house, running through the trees and brush during his getaway.
The women nod. “Just be careful,” Winona says quietly, worry lines creasing her brow.
“Always.” Maggie stands and offers a quick wave on her way out of the coffee shop. She got what she came for—affirmation, or at least not protests, that Stewart could be guilty.
Maggie sits in the driver seat of her car and checks her email on her phone. Trista promised a newspaper article from Two Forks, Iowa, linking Mitch and Josh to each other. She hopes a third name comes up, and that it’s Stewart Cole.
The link in her email leads her to an article by Jake Carlson from several years ago, well before Josh moved to Silver Springs. Maggie isn’t sure when Stewart married Clara, but the article could be from so long ago that it was before Stewart even knew of Clara’s existence. A horrifying question crosses Maggie’s mind that she has to push away: was Stewart’s marriage to Clara a sham from the start?
By the time Maggie has finished reading every word, twice for good measure, she has to agree with Trista that Mitch and Josh knew each other. In Two Forks, the two men made waves by discovering an antique clock in Josh’s basement.
Maggie has a vague memory from last spring when Clem was helping Josh locate more antique clocks. Maggie doesn’t know when the clock collecting started, but it could have been the gateway into antiques, and eventually leading them to information that Ginger Rae, Winona and Erline thought was secret—that of the keys unlocking the power to time travel.
Maggie shuts her phone down and decides Stewart is the person she has to talk to most urgently. His name didn’t come up in the article as she had hoped, but she’s still suspicious of his motives in Silver Springs, and even his relationship with Clara. She starts her car and drives to the motel she followed him to yesterday and knocks on door number 206.
The same tall, curly haired man with a scar on his chin and fresh scratches on his cheek answers the door, dressed in a suit and looking like he’s ready to go somewhere. The surprised look on his face lets Maggie know that he probably didn’t even hear her knock but opened the door to go outside.
Maggie extends her hand and plasters a smile onto her face. “Maggie Boothe,” she says in her friendliest voice, saved for situations she’d rather not be in.
Stewart takes a step backward, into his motel room. “I . . . didn’t hear you knock. Have you been standing there long?” he asks, his eyebrows scrunching together. He doesn’t take her hand and it’s clear he doesn’t trust her.
Maggie shakes her head and drops her hand to her side. “Nope. Just knocked. I wondered if you had a few minutes. Stewart Cole, right?”
He nods slowly. “I really don’t have a few minutes. Sorry.”
Maggie lets her eyes travel conspicuously to the briefcase in his hand. “Heading out somewhere? Can I come back later to ask you a few questions?” She doesn’t want to push too hard and have him shut down completely.
“Yeah . . . I have some things to do. Um . . . what did you want to ask me about?”
Maggie sticks to the same story she gave Valerie. “I’m a reporter and wanted to ask you about your relationship with Clara Speed.”
“I’m not interested in talking to reporters.” Stewart doesn’t give Maggie a second longer of his time and closes the door in her face. If he was really going somewhere, it can wait long enough for her to give up and go back to her car.
She does as she suspects he wants her to and gets into her car. She knows he watches her the whole time, so he knows what kind of car she drives, but Maggie needs him to trust her. She drives out of the motel’s parking lot back toward town and pulls into a gas station. Stewart will have to pass her if he goes to town and she wants to know where he goes.
Maggie doesn’t take her eyes off the road but uses her time less than wisely. She calls Drew instead of Trista.
“Good morning,” he says after only half a ring and she can hear the smile in his voice.
“Hi Drew. I had a good time last night. Thanks for coming to dinner.”
He laughs. “I should be thanking you. Everything you’ve ever cooked for me is better than what I can get at the brewery. And they make good food. What are you doing today?” he asks, changing the subject. She knows he’s trying to keep tabs on her during this investigation.
“I just tried to talk to Stewart Cole.”
“Oh yeah? He looking guilty?”
Maggie shrugs to herself. “Guilty of somet
hing, but I don’t know what. He was really evasive. And not interested in talking to me about Clara. I’m waiting for him to drive by now. I think he was heading to town. I don’t know what he’s doing in Silver Springs, but I need to find out.”
“Where are you?”
Maggie has promised to keep Drew in the loop and she’s done a terrible job at following through on that promise, but she doesn’t like feeling like he’s protecting her. “At the gas station between the motel and grocery store. He’ll have to pass me if he goes to town.”
“Let me know where he goes in town. I can meet you there. He doesn’t know me.”
Maggie smiles. Drew is good at turning his protecting into an asset for her. “Will do. Talk to you later.”
She hangs up just as Stewart’s green pickup truck passes the gas station, faster than the posted speed limit. Maggie drops her phone into her handbag and says aloud, “Here we go,” while she pulls out behind him, stepping on the gas pedal to keep up.
Maggie stays well behind Stewart, partly because he’s driving so fast as they approach Main Street, but mostly because she’s confident he knows her car. She doesn’t want him to know that she’s following him, and keeping her distance is her best bet at keeping herself safe.
Stewart turns right onto Main Street and slows considerably. When Maggie makes the turn after him, he’s a block ahead of her, obeying the 25 mile per hour speed limit through the center of town.
Maggie slows and digs around in her handbag for her phone. She didn’t plan ahead and keep it out so it would be available to call Drew at a moment’s notice. She stops at the first all way stop and unlocks the screen, pulls up Drew’s number and calls him back.
He answers just as quickly as her call a few minutes ago. “You found him already?”
“Yeah. I’m following him down Main Street.” As she speaks, Stewart turns right onto Second Avenue and Maggie does the same. “I think he’s going to the town offices. I’ll park in the dog park parking lot on Second. Meet me there?”
“See you in five.”
The line goes dead and Maggie passes the town offices, turns left and backs into a parking spot across the street so she can keep an eye on the office building’s front door. Before Drew shows up, Maggie watches Stewart walk from the town office’s back parking lot around front and into the building.
Maggie keeps checking the time on her phone, wishing Drew would show up faster. Four minutes after she spoke to him, he rides in on his bike, leans it against the fence of the dog park and opens Maggie’s passenger door.
“Your bike? I was starting to think it didn’t really exist,” she teases. She’s given him a hard time about his choice of vehicle—a gas guzzling SUV—even though he claimed he only drove it when he was helping her with an investigation. This is the first time his bike has made an appearance on a work day.
“You’ve gotta learn to trust me,” he teases right back and she smiles. “Catch me up. Where’s Stewart now and what does he look like?”
Maggie tells him about the fresh scratches on his face and how she thinks he got them, the noticeable scar on his chin and the dark curly hair that are Stewart’s most prominent characteristics. She remembers the photo Daniel texted to her yesterday and shows him that for good measure. “He walked inside,” Maggie glances at the time again, “three minutes ago. I don’t know what office he went to.”
“I’m on it.” Drew gives her a quick kiss.
He gets out of the car before Maggie can react, her hand gently touching her cheek where the warmth of Drew’s lips still linger.
Maggie waits for an eternity—or just fifteen minutes, but her impatience gets the better of her. She pulls her tablet from her handbag and opens her notes about Clara. She adds the link between Mitch and Josh from Two Forks, Iowa, hoping that information will shed light on Clara’s killer down the road. Then she reads over everything she’s already entered, starting with Ginger Rae’s account of Clara from Saturday night immediately after the murder, and Sunday morning’s encounter at the salon.
Maggie’s blood boils at the memory of the group of young women spreading nasty rumors about a blameless victim. She unconsciously runs her fingers through her freshly cut hair and glances in the mirror, checking for any gray roots. She doesn’t want to worry about her appearance but she can’t help it. She doesn’t like her gray hair, not like Clem does.
Each rumor Maggie reads heats her up even more. Ranging from Clara’s supposed prostitution to being a virgin, stealing from her family to ending up in rehab ignites a fire in Maggie. Even if Maggie didn’t know Ginger Rae, she’d want to bring Clara’s killer to justice.
Remembering that Clara did go to rehab sends Maggie’s mind into a spiral. She learned—straight from Clara—that she met Karl Jacobs there. Could he be the link to Mitch and Josh rather than Stewart?
Maggie doesn’t have time to dive into that line of thought because just then Drew comes out of the office building and calmly crosses the street. He opens the passenger door and reports back. “Stewart is fighting for a cut of Clara’s life insurance.”
CHAPTER 25
“You didn’t stay to listen to what he has to say?” Maggie asks.
Drew smiles. “I lurked long enough to know why he thinks he’s entitled to it, and to know who else is in line.”
Maggie raises her eyebrows in question.
“Marla was in there. You know her?” Maggie nods, remembering her conversation with Marla and David yesterday. “Stewart feels he’s ‘owed,’” he uses air quotes to emphasize his point, “because he’s been supporting her even after they got divorced and he didn’t have to. It was all from the goodness of his heart, he said.”
Maggie huffs. “Do you think he could have killed her just to get the money back he thinks he deserves?”
“I don’t know. He seems pretty sleazy to be going after his deceased ex-wife’s life insurance, but murder sounds extreme.” He places his hand on the door handle. “I have to get to work. But if you need anything, I can always get out for an hour or two.”
Maggie nods and leans across the center console to meet him halfway for a kiss. “Have a good day,” she says, already thinking about Stewart’s greed. She watches Drew get on his bike and ride away back toward Main Street.
Maggie waits more than a half hour for Stewart to come out of the town office building. When he finally does, he’s smiling and chatting to Marla like they’re best friends. Maggie can’t believe her eyes: Clara’s ex-husband and her estranged mother getting along.
The two of them walk behind the building to the parking lot and Maggie gives up on hoping to make heads or tails of what she just witnessed. She gets out of her car and walks to Two Sisters. If she’s lucky, she’ll get a call from Clara. She has a pressing question she wants answered.
Inside, Maggie is met with the sound of a woman shouting, and it’s not Clem. She walks quickly toward the back office and peeks inside. Aurora Holt, owner of Kidz right next door, is yelling at Clem.
“You’re just like your mother,” she screams and turns on her heel toward the door to leave. Maggie steps aside to let her pass and Aurora shoots her a look of disgust that matches her tone of voice.
Maggie watches her go and then walks into the office. Thankfully there is no one else in the shop so she sits across from Clem.
“What was that about?” Maggie asks.
Clem hasn’t moved since Aurora stormed out. Her face is red with anger, but Maggie knows she would have kept her cool. She takes a deep breath and answers. “She’s trying to get the four shops on the block to advertise together. Just like she did when Mom and Dad ran the store. But I still see no benefit in it for us. We have plenty of business but Aurora is too dependent on the holiday season. She can’t seem to figure out how to get more business year round.”
“What does Leah think?” Maggie asks, referring to the owner of The Last Page bookstore on the corner.
“I haven’t asked her directly, but Aurora sure
made it sound like she wants to go in together on ads. But it doesn’t even matter. We don’t need it so why waste our money?” Clem stands with a finality that Maggie understands means the conversation is over.
Maggie nods to herself and relaxes back into her chair for the briefest moment before the phone in the phone booth rings. Clem is already out of the office but Maggie knows she won’t answer it. It’s not for her.
Maggie makes her way through the antiques and picks up after the fifth ring.
“Clara, I need to know more about your relationship with Karl Jacobs,” Maggie requests as soon as she answers. She doesn’t want to give Clara a chance to berate her for not solving her murder yet.
“There’s not much more to tell,” Clara says carefully. “We didn’t get along.”
“Why not? What happened?” Maggie knows there’s always more to a relationship than just ‘not getting along.’ And knowing the details of Clara’s lack of friendship with Karl could shed some light on her murder. “Why was he in rehab?”
“That’s the thing. He was so negative about everything, bashing others for being there, but he was there too.”
“For what? Drugs? Alcohol?” Maggie presses.
“I don’t know. We weren’t in the same group and I tried to keep to myself. I burned enough bridges in my life that I knew I had to just get help and get out.”
“So when did you interact with him if he wasn’t in your group?”
“Meals. He seemed to always sit next to me. I always sat alone, and the next thing I’d know, there was Karl.”
“What do you know about his past?”
Maggie can almost hear Clara shrug on the other end. “Not much. I didn’t really ask him questions. I didn’t want to know. Eventually that made him lash out. He said he was just trying to be friends. I told him to go be friends with someone else. He didn’t take that well.”