by Ginny Gold
Maggie can understand why.
“Why do you want to know so much? Is he guilty?” Clara asks.
Maggie hesitates. “I don’t know. The only connection between you two is being in rehab together.” Maggie pauses before asking, “Did you know anything about your aunt’s keys?” She knows the question sounds ridiculous as soon as it’s out of her mouth.
“Her keys?” Clara chuckles. “What do you mean?”
“She has a key that she wears on a necklace. Did you know anything about it?” Maggie asks again.
“I know the one you’re talking about.” Clara stops and Maggie waits for her to continue. She’s almost positive she will. “Her friends have them too.” Another pause forces Maggie to be patient. “I heard them talking about them one time when I was visiting. Years ago. Before I even met Stewart. Your parents were there.”
“Did you ever tell anyone about them?” Maggie asks.
Clara doesn’t answer right away but Maggie knows she’s still there. “Maybe . . .”
“Did Stewart know about them? Do you know about what they’re capable of? Did you tell Karl?”
“I just know my aunt thinks that all the keys, together with some globe like thing, have some kind of power. I don’t know anything else.” Clara exhales and continues. “Yes, Stewart knows about them. But he thought my aunt was as crazy as I did. And no, of course I didn’t tell Karl.”
There’s no click for a phone hanging up, but the line goes dead. Maggie isn’t sure if she’ll hear from Clara again after how upset she was. But she got enough information to track down Stewart and ask about Ginger Rae’s key.
CHAPTER 26
“Everything okay?” Clem asks when Maggie slowly closes the door to the phone booth.
Maggie nods. Stewart is looking more and more guilty, but Karl keeps popping up in Maggie’s brain. She knows she has to let his article go, but the only way to do that might be to confront him.
“Have you seen the paper today?” Clem asks, handing a copy to Maggie.
Maggie takes it and is surprised to see a photo of Clara on the front.
“It’s the article Ginger Rae wrote with the senior editor, Ellen Furst. I think they put it on the front page so everyone would see it,” Clem continues.
Maggie scans the first few paragraphs but can’t focus. All she picks up is what she knows to be true about Clara—she had a tough childhood, an even tougher adulthood and was turning her life around when she was killed on Saturday night.
“Just don’t look at it online. Of course there are the trolls who are leaving comments and think Karl’s article is the truth,” Clem adds.
Maggie hands the newspaper back to her sister.
“No, keep it. I’ve already read the whole paper. You should read at least this article.” Clem holds her hands up to keep Maggie from returning the paper.
“Are you all set by yourself again today?” Maggie asks, turning slowly toward the front door, still staring at Clara’s photo.
“Yeah. I have a feeling you’re getting close to figuring all this out. You can make it up to me then.” Clem smiles. “Go, get out of here. You’re not even hearing what I’m saying.”
Clem is right. Her words go in one ear and out the other, Maggie barely registering their meaning. She folds the paper in half, sticks it under her arm and slips her handbag over her shoulder. She walks quickly back to her car, wanting to know everything about Stewart.
Maggie sits down in her car and knows she has to make a phone call. Unfortunately, it’s not to Trista. Maggie wants to ask her again to dig around in Stewart’s past, but she does the right thing and calls Detective Daniel Stevens. She’s been lazy about keeping him appraised of her investigation, and if she’s lucky he’ll have information for her.
“I thought you’d skipped town with how quiet you’ve been,” Daniel says when he answers the phone. His voice is friendlier than Maggie would expect.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Maggie is ready to leap into what she knows and what she wants to know but Daniel interrupts her.
“Denis told me the good news. Clem must be happy.”
Maggie smiles. “Thrilled. Sorry you weren’t there. If I’d known . . .”
“I wouldn’t have wanted to crash your double date.” His tone turns only slightly sour. Changing the subject, he continues, “But I’m glad you called. We’re making progress. Stewart Cole’s appearance in Silver Springs led us to do some research on his background. We’re bringing him in for questioning and fingerprinting right now.”
“I didn’t know you found any fingerprints in Clara’s room, only blood?” Maggie asks.
“We’re doing a DNA test too.”
“So no fingerprints from the crime scene?” Maggie confirms.
“Correct. But once he’s here, we may as well get him in the system.”
“Great. Because I tried to talk to him this morning and he wanted nothing to do with me. So I followed him to town where he went to the town offices trying to get his hands on Clara’s life insurance money.”
Daniel doesn’t answer right away. “That’s good to know. Thanks.” She can hear a pencil scribbling away. She must be on speakerphone. “Anything else you’ve found out?”
Maggie tells him about her conversation with Marla and David, but they don’t look as guilty as Stewart right now. And if the police are also suspicious of his actions, she’s confident they can’t all be wrong.
“Great. Don’t be a stranger if you learn something else,” Daniel says and hangs up.
Maggie leans back in her seat and closes her eyes for just a moment. With the police handling Stewart, she desperately wants to confront Karl, even if just for her own closure. She gets back out of her car and walks the block and a half to the Silver Times offices.
Maggie doesn’t have a plan. But every time she thinks about Sunday’s article, her blood boils and she needs to make that stop. She sits on a bench across the street from the newspaper’s office and reads today’s article.
Ginger Rae is completely honest and candid in the editorial. She doesn’t sugar coat or look for sympathy or make excuses. She just shares the truth about Clara’s life, rather than the drivel Karl wrote two days ago.
When Maggie finishes, she puts the paper on the bench, adds a rock on top of it so it won’t blow away, and confidently walks into the Silver Times’ office.
“Good morning. How can I help you?” a young woman asks from behind the front desk.
Maggie forgot about that piece from her visit yesterday when Drew ushered them straight to Ellen’s office. “I’m here to see Karl Jacobs,” Maggie tells her.
The receptionist checks something on her computer before answering. “I’m sorry. He’s out of the office this morning.”
“Do you know where I might be able to find him?” Maggie asks, making her voice sugary sweet.
She checks something else on her computer and Maggie waits patiently. “He’s working on a piece at the middle school. There’s an art show today.”
Maggie doesn’t wait to hear any other details. “Thanks,” she says and turns to walk away.
She practically runs back to her car, wishing she’d driven the short distance so she didn’t have to waste any time. The middle school is on River Road, not far from Main Street, but walking there would mean even more time for Karl to go back to the office and Maggie would have to continue her wild goose chase.
The parking lot is packed at the middle school and Maggie has to park on the street. Thankfully her small car can fit into tight spaces and she finds a spot not far down the road. By the time she’s inside, it’s past ten in the morning and she feels like she’s already lived a whole day.
There are signs everywhere directing her where to find the art show. The gymnasium is full of students standing in front of paintings and drawings, jewelry, sculptures and photographs. Adults cluster around each one and Maggie meanders through the crowd in search of only one person.
Karl is in the mi
ddle of the room, camera to his eye, capturing the action. Maggie keeps her distance but never takes her eye off of him.
He lowers the camera and pulls out a pad of paper and pencil. The student he interviews, who he just photographed, is a young girl whose nerves are visible even though Maggie can’t hear what she’s saying.
Maggie watches the conversation unfold, walking closer so she won’t lose Karl in the crowd when he moves on to the next student. She doesn’t take in any details of the students’ work but overhears adults exclaim over some of them. They must be good.
Maggie follows Karl around the gym for nearly two hours, listening to snippets of his interviews and noticing who he focuses on. The whole time, she avoids conversation with anyone and thinks only of Sunday’s article about Clara. She can’t wait to give him a piece of her mind.
Finally, nearly at noon, the art show seems to be winding down and Karl packs up his things. Maggie stays close behind and follows him outside. She waits until he’s loading his car and then announces herself.
“Karl Jacobs?” she asks, surprising him. It’s clear that he had no idea she was there. “Maggie Boothe. We met on Sunday at Winona Landis’s house when you were interviewing Ginger Rae Speed.”
His face doesn’t register recognition until she tells him where they met. “Oh right. Maggie. Good to see you again. You have a student here? Some of those pieces were really great. Especially for middle schoolers.”
Maggie shakes her head. “No. No kids. I wondered if I could speak to you about something.” She looks around in the parking lot. Many parents and visitors to the art show are now exiting the school and heading to their cars. “Somewhere . . . less crowded.”
Karl nods, completely at ease. “Sure. I was going to stop by the river to eat lunch. Follow me there.”
Maggie agrees and walks quickly back to her car, making a plan in her head. Besides chewing him out for his slander on Sunday, she also wants to know more about his relationship with Clara.
Karl pulls out of the parking lot and Maggie follows. They drive only a short distance from the school and he stops in the same parking area Maggie picked yesterday to eat lunch and take a walk. He gets out, lunch bag in hand, and walks to a picnic table. Maggie follows, not sure how this conversation is going to play out.
CHAPTER 27
Opal doesn’t move a muscle. Her whiskers remain still and her tail doesn’t even twitch. She’s determined to redeem herself in the eyes of Jester, the big black cat who is somehow in charge of the group of cats Opal has fallen into.
She’s been high up in the same pine tree for hours. She’s been keeping her eye on Oscar, the golden retriever she’s unlucky enough to share a house with.
Oscar barely moves too. He lies in the shade of a second pine tree and keeps his eyes trained on a single spot in the yard.
It’s taken Opal longer than she’d like to admit, but she’s almost positive she knows what’s buried where he’s watching. She thinks it’s the collar she wore for a short time last spring, and that recently went missing. As soon as it was gone, everyone wanted it—Jester, Oscar, and even her human, Maggie.
Today is the day that Opal’s plan will be put into action. Oscar isn’t the brightest dog—though Opal has never met a dog with as much patience or focus as any cat—and she devised a plan with Luna to distract him long enough to dig up the collar. If she’s right about what Oscar is guarding, the fate of the world will be back in the hands of the humans, and up to the cats to show them what much be done to ensure the future of the world.
Opal waits for the perfect moment to launch her plan. During her hours of observation, she’s found that Oscar can only stay in the same spot for a limited amount of time. He gets antsy and is easily distracted, something she doesn’t understand one bit. Opal could stay put for a whole day if she had to.
As Opal watches, Oscar’s ears begin to twitch and he bolts upright from his prone position. His eyes move from the spot in the yard to the poodle next door. Opal knows he’ll go and visit, the two animals will sniff each other’s rear ends, and then Oscar will be tempted to explore further.
Once Oscar and the poodle finish their greeting, Opal jumps from her tree, staying hidden beneath the lowest branches, her sign for Luna to do the same.
Luna’s white form streaks across the yard, a missile that is irresistible to Oscar. He’s been trained not to chase Opal, but a new cat is too tempting and he takes off after Luna.
Without wasting a moment, Opal starts digging in exactly the spot Oscar has been watching for days. She braves only the slightest glances in Luna’s direction. After only a few seconds of digging and checking on Oscar’s location, both Luna and Oscar are gone from her sight. She can only hear the frantic barking of a dog wanting something he can’t have.
Before long, the poodle starts yelping like mad, echoing Oscar’s increasingly hysterical sounds. Opal knows she only has seconds left to find the collar before the poodle’s warning reaches Oscar’s brain. He might be a dog, but he’s a dog on a mission. She just hopes that his mission remains capturing Luna long enough to find the collar.
To Opal’s surprise, the poodle never even attempts to come into her yard. There is no visible barrier, but something keeps the dog from stopping Opal’s progress. Whatever it is, she’s thankful it exists.
Finally, Opal’s claw catches on fabric and she yanks the collar—spherical object still attached—from the ground. With the collar in her mouth, she dashes to the open window into her bedroom. The door to the rest of the house is closed and she leaps onto the tallest thing in the room. She deposits the collar well out of reach of any snooping dogs and returns outside to help Luna.
At the base of another tall tree well outside his yard, Oscar is torn. Opal watches him peer into the upper branches where she can just make out Luna’s white fur. But Oscar’s ears are on alert, taking in the poodle’s warning.
Oscar finally leaves the cat and races back to his yard. Opal doesn’t wait to find out what his reaction will be when he sees what she’s done. She hurries off in the direction of the old abandoned house where the cats meet in the basement. Luna wastes no time and is out of the tree before Opal has made it a dozen steps. They reach the basement window together, breathless and every fur standing on end.
Jester sits on the only chair in the room, every other cat on the ground in front of him, and all eyes turn to Opal. She twitches her tail triumphantly and a chorus of meows and purrs echo around the room.
CHAPTER 28
Karl sits at a picnic table along the Spring River and Maggie sits across from him. She doesn’t have lunch with her and her stomach growls. Karl makes no move to share anything he’s brought.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” he asks after he swallows his first bite.
Maggie jumps right into the reason she’s tracked him down. “I understand you met Clara Speed while she was in rehab. I just wondered how you knew her; what your relationship with her was like.”
The tips of Karl’s ears turn red but his expression doesn’t betray that he’s caught off guard.
“Were you friends?” Maggie asks when he doesn’t respond.
He nods through a second bite of his lunch and Maggie’s stomach growls again. She hopes he doesn’t hear it over his chewing. “I guess you could say that. Maybe more like acquaintances.”
“So she was friendly with you?”
“Friendly enough. She wasn’t really friends with anyone there.”
“And after you both completed your . . . treatments, you just happened to move here?” Maggie asks. “Did you know Clara was coming to stay with her aunt?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t know she was coming to Silver Springs. I used to work for a paper in Iowa and this was the only one that would hire me. It’s small and I haven’t exactly proven myself yet.” His voice is full of conviction and Maggie has to believe him.
“Iowa? Where in Iowa?”
“Two Forks. You know it?”
Maggie stands before Karl can respond. She walks quickly to her car and forces herself not to look back. She desperately wants to make sure he’s not following her but resists the urge.
A hand on her arm catches her by surprise and she wants to scream. Karl’s smiling face is right next to her and panic grips Maggie’s heart.
“You forgot your bag,” he says, handing her the green and tan canvas handbag she brings everywhere and depends on. Her phone, new Swiss army knife and tablet computer are all inside and she’d be lost without them.
Relieved, Maggie thanks him and continues walking with purpose to her car, her heart never settling back into a normal rhythm.
Once safely inside, she watches him sit back down at the picnic table and resume calmly eating his lunch. Maggie drives back to Main Street, parks in the parking garage and orders a sandwich in the shop upstairs. The whole time, Two Forks, Iowa keeps running around in her mind, telling her it’s too much of a coincidence not to be connected to Mitch and Josh living there.
She pulls up the article Trista sent her that morning and reads it again. It’s not until she stops to see who wrote the article that things start falling into place. She immediately uses every technological tool in her repertoire to see if there’s a link between Karl Jacobs and Jake Carlson, the article’s author. It takes only a few minutes until she’s almost positive she knows she’s found Clara’s killer, but for good measure calls the newspaper in Iowa to confirm her suspicions.
***
Maggie is only slightly more relaxed after a filling lunch and being confident that she knows what happened to Clara. Ginger Rae was right all along, but Maggie has to tell Daniel first. She has to present all of her evidence so he can arrest Karl.